Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Park Homes: Regulation

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, whether his Department has taken recent steps to (a) help raise awareness of the rights and responsibilities of park home residents and (b) issue guidance on best practice to local authorities.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to help tackle the use of complex and opaque company structures to (a) limit park home residents' security of tenure and (b) avoid liability for enforcement action; and if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of the use of such company structures since 2018.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Government response to the call for evidence on the review of park homes legislation, published in October 2018, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to (a) amend and clarify the definition of a park home pitch fee and (b) prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.

Jacob Young: The Department has published two guidance documents relating to the fit and proper person test.My Department continues to work closely with the four national residents’ associations to address their members’ concerns about rights and responsibilities in the sector.We remain committed to improving the sector further and will introduce primary legislation when parliamentary time allows, to prevent the use of complex company structures, clarify the definition of a pitch fee and prevent the use of variable service charges in written agreements.

Park Homes: RoyaleLife

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will take steps to help support park home residents that have been adversely impacted by (a) companies in the Royale Life Group being put into administration and (b) the bankruptcy of Robert Bull.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the legal rights to redress for park home residents that have been adversely impacted by (a) companies in the Royale Life Group being put into administration and (b) the bankruptcy of Robert Bull.

Jacob Young: My Department has provided the national park home residents’ associations with advice to share with their members, about the rights and protections in place for those affected by those companies that have gone to administration.My Department has also written to the relevant local authorities to remind them of their site licensing duties and to ensure the administrators continue to meet their legal obligations.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities: Ministerial Boxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

Simon Hoare: None.

Political Parties and Public Bodies: Information Sharing

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether the Defending Democracy Taskforce has had discussions with the Electoral Commission on enhanced information sharing between (a) political parties and (b) public bodies.

Simon Hoare: As set out previously, the Government will consult the relevant authorities with the aim of finding ways to improve information sharing to facilitate enforcement of existing electoral law and report its conclusions to Parliament by the end of 2024.

Ukraine: Refugees

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether he has had discussions with his Ukrainian counterparts on plans for the futures of those resident in the UK on Ukrainian sponsorship schemes beyond the schemes' expiration.

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of providing additional funding to local authorities beyond the expiration date of the Ukraine sponsorship schemes, to help support those from Ukraine currently resident in the UK under such schemes.

Felicity Buchan: The Home Office is reviewing what may be needed beyond Spring 2025 and an update on the future of the scheme will be provided well before the first visas expire in Spring 2025.The UK Government supports the Ukrainian government and shares its desire for Ukraine eventually to welcome their people back to help rebuild the country.We remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine, the Ukrainians now living in the UK and the local authorities supporting them.

Refugees: Homelessness

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2024 to Question 10209 on Refugees: Homelessness, what steps he is taking to monitor the effectiveness of the support his Department provides to local authorities to reduce the risk of homelessness for new refugees.

Felicity Buchan: We have welcomed nearly 200,000 Ukrainians to the UK since the war began and provided £1.1 billion to councils through a tariff for each arrival in their area to support guests and sponsors. Most Ukrainians have been able to sustain housing without the need for homelessness support. This year councils across the UK have been allocated £150 million to help prevent homelessness for Ukrainian households and others at risk of homelessness, and there will be an additional £120 million available next year.The vast majority of Afghans who were in bridging hotels have been supported to move into settled accommodation. We have provided a £35 million package for local authorities to increase the support available to Afghans and help overcome the specific barriers they face in accessing the housing system, including £7,100 per person in flexible housing fund to help households into settled accommodation. There is also £9,150 per household available to local authorities for homelessness costs, and up to 6 months wraparound funding of £28 per person per day for those in temporary accommodation.We will continue to support the Afghan cohort into settled housing, including through the £450 million third round of the Local Authority Housing Fund which follows the first two rounds of £750 million to help house Ukrainian and Afghan families in England. The Department continues to monitor homelessness in these groups, working closely to support local authorities so they are able to carry out their duties.

Public Buildings

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will have discussions with local authorities on the processes used to determine the purposes for which publicly-funded buildings can be used.

Simon Hoare: Councils are independent, democratic bodies responsible for managing their own estates. Local authorities are best placed to decide how best to use local buildings to benefit communities, and while the government has no involvement in such decisions, we would always seek to ensure that taxpayers receive value for money.

Housing and Local Plans: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has had discussions with Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council on (a) progress in relation to its housebuilding targets and (b) its development of a local plan in the last 12 months.

Lee Rowley: Departmental officials monitor and engage with Local Planning Authorities across England, which included meeting with officers at Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council to discuss plan making in June 2023 and January 2024.

Buildings: Disability

Judith Cummins: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Answer of 6 September 2023 to Question 195098 on Buildings: Disability, on what date he plans to publish the results of research his Department commissioned into demographics, ergonomic requirements and experiences of disabled people, as part of a full review relating to Part M of the Building Regulations.

Lee Rowley: Announcements will be made in due course.

Housing: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what recent discussions he has had with the Northern Ireland Housing Executive on the availability of housing in Northern Ireland.

Lee Rowley: As housing is a devolved matter, there have been no specific recent discussions between the Secretary of State and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. However, UK Government officials work closely together with the Northern Ireland Civil Service on a range of issues of mutual concern on a regular basis and where appropriate, including housing.

Building Safety Fund

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how much (a) has been spent and (b) remains in the Building Safety Fund as of 31 January 2024.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of how much it would cost to expand access to the Building Safety Fund to (a) social housing providers, (b) shorter buildings and (c) other non-qualifying leaseholders.

Mike Amesbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an estimate of the number of buildings which it would be cheaper to demolish than to remediate under building safety regulations.

Lee Rowley: As of 31 December 2023, we had allocated £2.3 billion through the BSF. Data on the BSF and other remediation programmes for buildings under 18 meters is published and updated monthly here.All residential buildings above 11 metres in England now have a pathway to fix unsafe cladding, through either a taxpayer-funded scheme or developer-funded scheme. Where developers or building owners are not currently funding cladding remediation, the Government has committed £5.1 billion to ensure that people are safe and feel safe in their homes.All leaseholders can benefit from the funding available for cladding repairs for buildings over 18 metres through the BSF and CSS, regardless of whether they qualify for protections under the Building Safety Act 2022. Furthermore, remediation contribution orders provide all leaseholders in relevant buildings with a route for recovering historical safety remediation costs from those who caused them.Given the small number of buildings under 11 metres likely to need remediation, our assessment remains that extending protections to buildings below 11 metres is neither needed nor proportionate. Where buildings are unsafe, the Defective Premises Act offers a route to recover costs from the responsible party or parties.No analysis has been undertaken on the number of buildings it would be cheaper to demolish than to remediate.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Environment Agency: Flood Control

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had recent discussions with the Environment Agency on increasing the number of flood defence projects.

Robbie Moore: The Government announced in March 2020 a record £5.2 billion investment over 6 years in flood and coastal erosion schemes to better protect communities across England. Since April 2021, over £1.5 billion has been invested in flood defence projects across the country and over 67,000 properties have been better protected from flooding through over 200 completed schemes (as of September 2023). The programme of schemes that make up the current investment programme is reviewed and refreshed annually as projects progress. This allows for flexibility to manage change and introduce new schemes or urgent works if necessary. Ministers are working with the Environment Agency to review the programme in the light of the impacts of inflation. More information will be available in due course.

Storms: Emergencies

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he has taken to work with relevant authorities in improving storm resilience and recovery efforts in (a) England and (b) Romford constituency.

Robbie Moore: Creating climate resilient places lies at the heart of the EA’s National Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy for England (FCERM Strategy) and Roadmap to 2026. (a) There is close working across Government, including partner agencies such as the Met Office and the Environment Agency (EA), to monitor the risk from flooding. The Government-funded Flood Forecasting Centre provides a daily five-day flood forecast and informs National and Local operational flood readiness, allowing early warning and multi-agency coordinated response. The Environment Agency works with partners, including local authorities, as part of Local Resilience Forums made up of all Emergency Responders. The Environment Agency is actively engaged in partnership working with the emergency services and the military to ensure resilience and a readiness to respond to all environmental emergencies, including flooding. This involves joint training exercises and the supply of equipment such as mobile pumps to prepare for flooding. Following a flood event, Government departments and agencies conduct reviews of their response and coordination arrangements. (b)The Environment Agency has a good working relationship with the London Borough of Havering, who are the Lead Local Flood Authority for the Romford area. They work with the Council to assist them to mitigate flood risk in the Borough. This includes assisting with the Council's capital programme to mitigate against flooding, working with them to update and maintain their various strategic and non-strategic flood risk management plans, attending local emergency planning forums, and assisting with spatial planning.In addition to that the Environment Agency is supporting the Council in raising awareness of flood risk in the community and how local residents can protect themselves. In the lead up to the Storm Henk the Environment Agency enhanced their duty rosters to have sufficient staff to respond to the incident and offer support to partners and the public if required.

Flood Control

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much his Department invested in upper catchment management schemes in each of the last five years.

Robbie Moore: The Environment Agency’s catchment-based approach to flood and coastal erosion risk management can include work on both upland and lower catchment areas. The Environment Agency does not collect data on whether a project is in an upper catchment. Nature-based solutions have an important contribution to play in achieving climate resilient places. The Environment Agency’s £15m Natural Flood Management programme has demonstrated the important role nature-based projects can have in helping to slow the flow and store flood waters. A new £25 million fund for Natural Flood Management (NFM) aims to provide flood risk reduction benefits as well as wider benefits to society and nature across England. NFM measures work best when a catchment-based approach is taken, to manage the flow of water from the source of our rivers to the sea, across our towns, cities, countryside and coasts.

Flood Control

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment has he made of trends in the level of risk of surface water flooding; and what steps his Department is taking to help tackle these risks.

Robbie Moore: The Environment Agency report the number of properties at risk from surface water flooding in their Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Annual Report. It is currently estimated 3.4 million properties are at risk. A number of actions are underway to help reduce this risk and improve our understanding further. As part of the government’s £5.2billion Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) investment programme, funding has been allocated to hundreds of projects up and down the country to better protect people and properties from surface water flooding. Since 2020, the Environment Agency has supported 41 lead local flood authorities to enhance local surface water flood risk mapping, following £3.5 million in grants from the government. This new mapping will provide 4.6 million people with more detailed information and enable more targeted action. The information will also be incorporated into the new National Flood Risk Assessment (NaFRA2) that will provide a single picture of current and future flood risk from rivers, the sea and surface water. The Environment Agency are leading the £150 million flood and coastal resilience innovation programme where 25 local areas are demonstrating how practical innovative actions can work to improve resilience to flooding and coastal erosion. More than half of these projects are looking at innovation to mitigate against and adapt to surface water flooding.

Norfolk and Suffolk Broads: Dredging

Sir Brandon Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of dredging on water levels in the Broads water system.

Robbie Moore: The majority of the Broadland rivers are tidal and are dredged for navigational purposes by the Broads Authority. For flood management purposes, any silt removed by dredging would be replaced by sea water on the next tidal cycle. This is unlikely to have significant impact on draining freshwater through the system and there would therefore only be a negligible impact on overall water levels.

Flood Control

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the expected lifespan is of flood resilience schemes.

Robbie Moore: Flood and coastal erosion risk management schemes are typically designed for a 50-year lifespan, although this can vary. This figure assumes maintenance and reconditioning where required, the Environment Agency’s annual maintenance programme is available on GOV.UK.

Property: Flood Control

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many properties which have property level resilience measures installed have been flooded.

Robbie Moore: The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs. Property Flood Resilience (PFR) covers a range of measures designed to reduce damage caused by flooding. This includes measures to keep water out, such as flood doors and barriers, and also internal changes to lessen the impact of flooding, such as hard floors and raising electrics. A property with PFR measures may flood but suffer minimal damage because of the internal changes made. The property owner would not necessarily report this to the Environment Agency, their local authority or their insurer. Therefore, the data to answer this question is not available.

Flood Control

Ashley Dalton: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Minister of the Cabinet Office on the role of the Government Resilience Framework in strengthening national flooding preparedness.

Robbie Moore: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues on a wide range of issues, including future flood preparedness, and Cabinet discussions are considered confidential. Preparing for flooding in England remains a priority for Defra and the Environment Agency (EA) to protect communities, as part of the ‘whole of society’ approach to resilience outlined in the UK Government Resilience Framework, which states that every level of society has a part to play in building national resilience. Recent communications that strengthen national flooding preparedness include the EA annual Flood Action Campaign which began on 20 November 2023, to encourage people to prepare for flooding. This promotes the steps that people can take to protect themselves, their family and homes. Members of the public can sign up to receive free flood warnings from the EA to keep them aware of expected or ongoing flood risks to their local area. Defra and the EA also work with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to share flood risk information, discuss the readiness of Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) for flooding, and to identify particularly vulnerable areas. The EA works in close collaboration with LRFs across the country to develop plans and procedures to address flood risks.

Water Abstraction: Licensing

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department holds data on the number of water abstraction licences that have been issued by the Environment Agency in each year since 2015.

Robbie Moore: The number of new water abstraction licences that have been issued by the Environment Agency (EA) in each year since 2015 is as follows (the data set may not be complete for December 2023):YearNumber of abstraction licences20159312016815201793120188152019135720201014202137720223692023536Grand Total7145In addition to issuing new licences, the Environment Agency also processes applications to vary, revoke, reduce, lapse, vest, apportion and transfer abstraction licences. Under the Water Resources Regulatory Regime, as well as abstraction licences the EA also processes impoundment licence applications. In total the EA has processed 13,844 applications since 2015. The number of water abstraction licences issued each year varies due to the number of time limited licences that are due to expire in each year. If a licence holder wants to continue to abstract water after the date the licence expires, they must apply to the EA to renew the licence. New regulations came into effect on 1 January 2018 to improve the management of water resources and to ensure protection of the environment. Licensing exemptions that previously allowed the use of water from ground or surface water sources without the need for a licence were mostly removed. This process is known as New Authorisations. Between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2022, the EA issued 1,322 New Authorisations licences. These are included in the table above.

River Rom

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the condition of the River Rom.

Robbie Moore: The River Rom is part of the ‘Rom (Bourne Brook to Ravensbourne)’ water body. It is designated under the Water Framework Directive regulations as heavily modified and classified at Moderate Ecological Potential. Water quality pressures are impacting on fish and invertebrates in the Rom. These pressures include sedimentation (from poor soil management and transport infrastructure) and run off from the urban environment. The heavily modified nature of the water body means that physical modifications (i.e. culverts and straightened channels) also impact these elements. The river is at risk of further deterioration due to the presence of non-native invasive species. The Environment Agency is reviewing their water resources assessment for this area but currently assess the flow in the river as supporting ‘Good’ ecological status. I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 November 2023 to PQ 1841 which outlines the work being carried out by the Environment Agency in liaison with the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne Catchment Partnership; working with local partners to improve the water quality and biodiversity of waterbodies within Romford, including the Rom. Nationally, the Government published the Plan for Water in April 2023 – our comprehensive strategy for managing our water environment, including our rivers. It brings together the significant steps we have already taken with a suite of new policy actions. It aims to change the way that we manage water, improve water quality, and continue to secure our water supply through increased investment, stronger regulation and enforcement.

Wetlands: Flood Control

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) produce centralised guidance and (b) provide training for (i) land managers, (ii) planning authorities and (iii) practitioners on how to create and manage wetlands for flood resilience.

Robbie Moore: Natural flood management (NFM) is a key part of our approach. As you mention, we acknowledge the vital role that wetlands can play as part of the suite of NFM measures, both in reducing flood risk and in delivering multiple other benefits. We advocate the need for centralised NFM guidance and training that is relevant to all landscapes, including wetlands. The Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA) NFM Manual provides a step-by-step guide to natural flood management from identification through to implementation for a range of NFM measures. Wetlands are primarily covered in chapter 12 on floodplain reconnection. In summer 2023, the Environment Agency surveyed NFM practitioners on their skills and training needs. The Environment Agency is now exploring training options.

Storms: Agriculture

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Farming Recovery Fund will be extended to all those affected by storms this winter.

Robbie Moore: The Government has triggered the Flood Recovery Framework in Gloucestershire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, West Northamptonshire, Wiltshire and Worcestershire, to provide funding for affected households and businesses as a result of severe flooding caused by Storm Henk. Farmers in these areas are likely to be eligible for a number of these funds, including the Business Recovery Grant (for up to £2,500 per SME business), the Property Flood Resilience grant (up to £5,000 per flooded property) and Business Rate relief.We are currently assessing the full impact of the flooding caused by Storm Henk on farmland to enable us to confirm eligible areas for the Farming Recovery Fund. Eligible areas will be within the same areas announced for the wider Flood Recovery Framework. We are monitoring the situation closely and further guidance on support for farmers affected by the flooding will be published on gov.uk.

Flood Control: Finance

Sir Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of ring-fencing funding within the Flood Defence Grant-in-Aid scheme for natural flood management.

Robbie Moore: The Government is investing a record £5.2 billion in the floods capital programme. Funding is allocated where the risk is highest and the benefits are greatest. Natural Flood Management (NFM) is an integral part of the programme with both standalone NFM projects as well as conventional projects including NFM measures. In September 2023, the Government announced a ring-fenced £25 million fund for improving flood resilience through NFM. Successful projects will be announced early this year.

Agriculture: Floods

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much funding his Department has provided to support farmers whose lands have been flooded in each of the last five years.

Robbie Moore: The Farming Recovery Fund was activated in 2019 for farmers who suffered uninsurable damage to their land and were affected by exceptional flooding incidents as a result of significant rainfall. £1.4m was allocated towards reinstatement costs. £519,000 of this was claimed in 2020, £884,200 in 2021, and £750 in 2022. The fund was also announced on Saturday 6th January 2024 following Storm Henk, as part of the wider Flood Recovery Framework, but there is no claims data to report yet.

Wetlands: Conservation

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help restore wetlands.

Rebecca Pow: The Government has made a number of commitments which will help to restore our wetland habitats. Our Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) is underpinned by our legally binding Environment Act targets, including our apex target to halt species decline by 2030, and a commitment to create or restore over 500,000 hectares of a range of wildlife-rich habitats, including wetland habitats, by 2042. We also aim to bring 75% of our Protected Sites to favourable condition by 2042; many wetlands are Protected Sites.The UK is a member of the international Ramsar Convention on Wetlands. Across the UK, including the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, we protect 175 internationally important Ramsar wetlands, which is more than any other country. As part of our commitment under Ramsar, we have committed to establishing a UK Wetland Inventory which involves mapping our wetlands for the first time and supporting future action to protect these vital habitats.Our England Peat Action Plan sets out a strategic framework to improve management and protection of our peatlands, which are a kind of wetland. In our Plan for Water, we acknowledge the vital role that wetlands can play in Natural flood management (NFM) and are also actively using wetlands in our proposals for Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), which mimic natural water flow and are designed to reduce the impact of rainfall on new developments.Additionally, we have launched 12 landscape-scale Nature Recovery Projects over the past two years, and half of them include wetland habitat elements within their wilding mosaics. These include a 60,000-hectare Nature Recovery Project focusing on the Somerset Wetlands, with the 6,140-hectare super National Nature Reserve at its heart.We are also encouraging the delivery of wetlands through our other schemes. Recent actions announced under our Environmental Land Management schemes include increased payments for the creation and management of wetlands; for example, payment for management of fen has increased from £35 per hectare to £920 per hectare. In addition to this, our multi-million-pound Species Survival Fund grant scheme will create and restore a range of habitat types, including wetlands. Together these projects will enhance connectivity, species recovery and resilience to climate change.

United Utilities

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he has had discussions with United Utilities on bill prices.

Robbie Moore: The Secretary of State has regular meetings with stakeholders, including with water companies. Government is working closely with both Ofwat and the Environment Agency to ensure all water companies, including United Utilities, can meet their targets for environmental improvements, without unduly impacting customers’ bills in the next price review cycle.

River Rom

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if he will take steps to support Havering Council in efforts to enhance the River Rom's (a) environmental health, (b) maintenance of river-based infrastructure and (c) development of projects aimed at increasing the vibrancy of the River Rom as a community resource.

Robbie Moore: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 28 November 2023 to PQ 1841 which outlines the work being carried out by the Environment Agency in liaison with the Roding, Beam and Ingrebourne Catchment Partnership, working with local partners including Havering and neighbouring local authorities. In addition, I refer to the answer given on 07 February 2024 to PQ 11011 outlining Environment Agency funding for maintenance on the river Rom in the past three years.

River Rom

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what funding his Department has provided for the maintenance of the River Rom in each of the last three years.

Robbie Moore: The Environment Agency’s records relating to maintenance funding on main rivers are set out per financial year, which runs from 1 April – 31 March. The Environment Agency has spent the following on maintenance for the River Rom and Black’s Brook (which feeds into the Rom) in the past 3 years (to the nearest whole figure): 2021 - 2022: £93,3502022 - 2023: £74,4302023 - 2024: £52,550 (expected cost as financial year not yet complete). This includes a variety of works including vegetation management, operational checks on flood defence assets, treatment of invasive non-native species, bridge inspections, and inspection and maintenance of public safety measures. These figures will not include any expenditure on maintenance carried out as part of the Environment Agency’s incident response activities as the financial data for this is not held for each river.

Ministry of Defence

Type 26 Frigates: Contracts

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the subcontractors involved in fabrication work on the Type 26 programme.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer given to question 12598 on the 6 February 2024.Type 26 Frigates: Contracts (docx, 14.8KB)

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information his Department holds on the number and proportion of ARAP applications that have been pending a decision for more than (a) three, (b) six, (c), 12, (d) 18 and (e) 24 months.

James Heappey: As of 6 February 2024, 96,676 total applications have been made for ARAP of which 94,551 (98%) have been decided. Of the 2,125 still pending a decision: 422 (20%) have waited for 6 months333 (16%) have waited for 12 months268 (13%) have waited for 18 months207 (10%) have waited for 24 months. These are all complex cases that the Ministry of Defence are working hard to resolve at pace, often alongside colleagues across Government.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the longest outstanding Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy case without an eligibility decision was as of 30 January 2024.

James Heappey: As of 30 January 2024, the longest outstanding ARAP application awaiting an eligibility decision was submitted on 7 May 2021. This is an unusual case concerning a deceased applicant. This individual did not perform a role that would ordinarily be granted ARAP eligibility nor did the individual die in the course of their duties. The application is being taken forward by their son.

Navy: Staff

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the Royal Navy (a) staffing target and (b) actual number of staff was as of 30 January 2024.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I can confirm that it is the Government’s intention to announce an indicative planned strength for Regular Armed Forces personnel shortly which will provide further detail on planned future Armed Force strengths. However, currently, I can confirm that as of 1 October 2023, the total strength of the Naval Service was 37,960 (comprising of UK Regular Forces, Volunteer Reserve and other personnel), of which 32,130 were Regular serving Royal Navy personnel, including Royal Marines.These figures are published on a quarterly basis for all His Majesty’s Armed Forces and can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2023.

Jordan: USA

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his polices of the drone attack on the Tower 22 US base in Jordan on 28 January 2024.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence continuously monitors the security situation within the region, including following the attack on the Tower 22 base. The UK remains firmly committed to the Global Coalition Against Daesh and we are working with our partners across the region to promote regional stability.

Refugees: Afghanistan

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people that have relocated to the UK under the (a) Afghan relocations and assistance policy and (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme are residing in service family accommodation.

James Heappey: As of 2 February 2024, our records show 1,843 Afghans (principal applicants and family members) eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme (ARAP) are currently in settled Service Family Accommodation (SFA) across the United Kingdom. SFA properties are also used to provide short-term, transitional accommodation for some ARAP-eligible families on arrival to the United Kingdom. 850 Afghans (principal applicants and family members) are currently in transitional SFA prior to onwards movement into longer-term, settled accommodation. SFA is available to ARAP eligible applicants and family members only. The Home Office are responsible for administering the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).

Patrol Craft: Costs and Deployment

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, where each offshore patrol vessel (a) is deployed and (b) was manufactured; what the purchase cost was of each vessel; and what the annual (i) running and (ii) maintenance costs are of the Overseas Patrol Squadron.

James Cartlidge: In answer to the hon. Member's questions I can provide the following information: a) The offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) are currently deployed as follows:HMS Mersey, HMS Severn and HMS Tyne are all in the UKHMS Forth is in the South Atlantic with British Forces South Atlantic IslandsHMS Medway is in GibraltarHMS Trent is in the CaribbeanHMS Tamar and HMS Spey are in the Indo-Pacific b) HMS Mersey, HMS Severn and HMS Tyne are Batch 1 vessels, built by Vosper Thorneycroft at Southampton. HMS Forth, HMS Medway, HMS Trent, HMS Tamar and HMS Spey are Batch 2 vessels, built at BAE Systems’ shipyards on the Clyde. c) It is not possible to give a purchase cost for individual vessels, however the Contract value for the two Batches were: The contract for the three Batch 1 vessels had a value of £378 million.The contract for the five Batch 2 vessels had a value of £635 million. i) The annual running costs for all OPVs for Financial Year (FY) 2022-23 was £54.122 million.ii) The maintenance costs for all OPVs for FY 2022-23 was £51.250 million.

Defence Equipment: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department plans to procure a very-short range air defence system (VSHORAD) capability for the army.

James Cartlidge: The British Army does not use the NATO Very Short Range Air Defence (VSHORAD) definition for its Air Defence assets. However, the Army’s High Velocity Missile and Lightweight Multirole Missile can engage targets at very short range, providing a very short range air defence capability to Land Forces. Through the Land Ground Based Air Defence programme, work is ongoing to replace our STORMER based and dismounted systems and the Army is considering further complementary very short and short range capabilities to defeat a range of aerial threats.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of ARAP (a) pending, (b) rejected and (c) approved applicants identified as having served in a triples unit are residing in the UK.

James Heappey: Unfortunately, we are unable to break down ARAP figures by job role. It is also not possible to provide an accurate location for pending and ineligible applicants, as we rely on them to update us with their location should they choose to move. However as of 6 February 2024, 15,300 ARAP eligible Afghans – principal applicants and their family members - are residing safely in the UK.

RFA Fort Victoria: Repairs and Maintenance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q43 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when the maintenance period for RFA Fort Victoria will be completed.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave on 25 January 2024 to Question 10715 to the right hon. Member for Wentworth and Dearne (Mr Healey).RFA Fort Victoria (docx, 14.7KB)

Early Warning Systems

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what is the full operating capability and out of service date for the Crowsnest Airborne Early Warning system.

James Cartlidge: The Crowsnest Airborne Early Warning system achieved initial operating capability in July 2023 and is on track to achieve full operating capability next year in time to support a Carrier Strike Deployment in 2025. Under current plans CROWSNEST will retire on 31 December 2029. The capability was not extended in the Integrated Review 2021.

Veterans: Radiation Exposure

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Defence People and Families during the debate on Nuclear Test Veterans: Medical Records of 28 November 2023, Official Report, column 245WH, whether (a) any of those 150 files of data referenced contain comparative data or analysis of blood or urine tests on veterans taken subsequent to the weapons programme and (b) other files exist at the Atomic Weapons Establishment that may contain comparative data or analysis relating to blood and urine tests taken in the years after service at the weapons trials.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) archives do not contain any data or analysis of blood or urine tests relating to nuclear test veterans subsequent to the testing programme.

Armoured Fighting Vehicles

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has plans to purchase Spanish-built VAMTAC vehicles for the army.

James Cartlidge: The Army is considering multiple platforms to replenish its short-range air defence following the Granting in Kind of Stormer vehicles to Ukraine in 2022. While discussions are ongoing, no decision has been made and further information cannot be disclosed due to commercial sensitivities.

Armed Forces

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q14 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when he plans to complete the force design process.

James Cartlidge: The iterative force design process is being used to inform decisions today and to provide evidence on our military capability priorities ahead of the next Spending Review.

Multi-role Ocean Surveillance Ships

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the in service date for the Multi-Role Support Ship is.

James Cartlidge: As set out in the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the Multi-Role Support Ship is anticipated to be in service in the early 2030s. The Multi-Role Support Ship Programme is currently in its pre-concept phase. The focus is on determining the requirement and on setting the programme up for success ,with work ongoing to ensure affordability. It is too early to confirm details such as the estimated budget or precise in service dates.

Ministry of Defence: Contracts

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the cost of the each service's contracts with Capita was in each of the last five years.

James Cartlidge: Over the last five years the Department has spent approximately 1.2 billion with Capita. These are held across all TLBs.

Type 31 Frigates: Job Creation

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) jobs and (b) technical apprenticeships (i) have been created and (ii) he estimates will be created over the next 10 years from the Type 31 frigate programme in each shipyard in (a) England, (b) Scotland, (c) Wales and (d) Northern Ireland.

James Cartlidge: The construction of the Royal Navy’s Type 31 fleet will support around 1,250 highly-skilled jobs at Babcock’s shipyard in Rosyth and see the creation of an additional 150 apprenticeships. The programme will also support a further 1,250 roles across the UK supply chain.

Multi-role Ocean Surveillance Ships

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated budget for the Multi-Role Support Ship programme is.

James Cartlidge: As set out in the National Shipbuilding Strategy, the Multi-Role Support Ship is anticipated to be in service in the early 2030s. The Multi-Role Support Ship Programme is currently in its pre-concept phase. The focus is on determining the requirement and on setting the programme up for success ,with work ongoing to ensure affordability. It is too early to confirm details such as the estimated budget or precise in service dates.

Ammunition: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q16 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, what steps his Department is taking to invest more in munitions stockpiles.

James Cartlidge: Weapons stockpile levels and requirements are kept under constant review balancing current holdings against threats, availability, industrial capacity and evolving technology. The Defence Command Paper 2023 announced that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) would spend an additional £2.5 billion on munitions in addition to the Government’s provision of £560 million over two years to build our munitions stockpiles and a £1.9 billion over two years for investment in wider readiness and resilience. The MOD is developing a munitions strategy to ensure that we hold sufficient munitions with a suitable industrial base to support our, and our allies requirements.

Defence Equipment: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q21 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when his Department plans to introduce inflation-linked contracts in defence procurement competitions.

James Cartlidge: The Ministry of Defence already uses inflation-linked contracts in defence procurement competitions.

AWE: Finance

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what budget was provided to the Atomic Weapons Establishment to enable the negotiated settlement of the 2023 pay disputes.

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he has taken to help resolve industrial action at the Atomics Weapons Establishment.

James Cartlidge: As an arm's-length body of the Ministry of Defence, AWE plc (the Atomic Weapons Establishment) is responsible for pay negotiations with its employees. The AWE offer remains on the table and they will continue to seek a resolution.It would not be appropriate to comment on the specific terms of the pay mandate agreed with the AWE while negotiations are ongoing with their recognised trade unions.

Armed Forces

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q57 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when he expects the planning round to be completed.

James Cartlidge: The planning round is scheduled to finish by the end of April 2024.

Ministry of Defence: Consultants

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 4 December 2023 to Question 4065 on Ministry of Defence: Consultants, when he plans to send the letter to the Rt Hon. Member for Garston and Halewood.

James Cartlidge: I responded to the right hon. Member on 6 February 2024.

Ministry of Defence: Procurement

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Q33 of the oral evidence given to the Committee of Public Accounts on 22 January 2024, HC 451, when he plans to announce changes to the procurement process within his Department.

James Cartlidge: We plan to make an announcement about a reformed model for acquisition before Easter 2024.

Veterans: Identity Cards

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many veterans from Northern Ireland have (a) received and (b) had an application denied for a Veteran's ID card as of 30 January 2024.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It is taking time to collate the required information to answer the hon. Member's Question. I will write to her when the information is available, and a copy of this letter will be placed in the Library of The House.

Warrior Vehicles: Repairs and Maintenance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2024 to Question 11259 on Warrior Vehicles: Repairs and Maintenance, when did the policy of cannibalisation begin; and how many Warriors have been cannibalised to sustain the remaining fleet.

James Cartlidge: The policy concerning the cannibalisation process for all Army equipment has been in place since 2005. No Warrior Infantry Fighting Vehicles have been cannibalised to sustain the remaining fleet. Following the decision to cancel the Warrior Capability Sustainment Programme and reduce the in-service fleet by 172 platforms, salvage is occurring on all disposal platforms to ensure serviceable components are not wasted and are used to improve the sustainability of the current fleet.

Ministry of Defence: Subject Access Requests

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department takes to resolve complaints about unsatisfactory responses to subject access requests.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) takes its obligation under the Data Protection legislation very seriously. It has appointed a Data Protection Officer to consider all data protection concerns, including complaints about unsatisfactory response to subject access requests. The Data Protection Officer and their dedicated team deal with complaints, independently of the MOD chain of command. They assess whether a complaint should be upheld, and what action, if appropriate, is required to resolve the complaint. As part of the process individuals are always informed of their rights to make a complaint to the ICO directly if they are unhappy with how the MOD has dealt with their request.

Ministry of Defence: Subject Access Requests

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how long on average it takes his Department to respond to a subject access request; and what proportion of such requests are answered after 20 days.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The data protection legislation requires Ministry of Defence (MOD) to respond to SARs within one month of receipt unless the request is complex and can be legally extended for total period not exceeding three months. The MOD receives around 45,000 requests each year. The MOD performance currently stands at over 90% of requests are responded to within the statutory legal deadlines.

Armed Forces: Recruitment

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that armed forces recruitment targets are met.

Dr Andrew Murrison: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 January 2024 to Question 9841 to the hon. Member for Barnsley Central (Dan Jarvis).Armed Forces Recruitment (docx, 15.8KB)

Ministry of Defence: Recruitment

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the performance targets are for his Department's recruitment contracts with Capita.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Capita’s main performance targets are set out in an annual “Demand Plan” which is issued to Capita by the Army each year. The Demand Plan for Recruiting Year 2023-24 set out the following headline recruiting target for Capita: DescriptionRecruiting Year 2023-24Total Soldier13,827  There are no targets for Officers.

Navy: Recruitment

Alyn Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the average processing time is for a Royal Navy engineering technician application.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Since the introduction of the new recruitment process in August 2023, the average time for Royal Naval Other Ranks roles from candidate application submission date to the date a Phase 1 training place is requested is 119 days.

Afghanistan: Refugees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of ARAP cases are pending a decision.

James Heappey: As of 31 January 2024, there are 1,992 ARAP-principal applicants that are awaiting a decision. Many of these are new applicants. Each ARAP application is reviewed on a case-by-case basis and is honoured or scrutinised based on their own merits in line with the published ARAP policy. The Minstry of Defence is working diligently to identify every eligible principal applicant and provide a safe passage for them to relocate to the UK as quickly as possible.

Navy: Uniforms

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Royal Navy is abolishing tropical uniforms.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Royal Navy tropical uniform has not been abolished but is now issued only to personnel who are required to wear it regularly during their general duties or for ceremonial purposes.

Typhoon Aircraft: Decommissioning

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his planned timetable is for the retirement of Tranche 1 Typhoon fighter jets.

James Cartlidge: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Norwich South (Clive Lewis) on 19 December 2023 to Question 6237 which remains extant. Typhoon Aircraft: Decommissioning (docx, 26.5KB)

Aerospace Industry and Defence: Employment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what number and proportion of UK jobs are in the (a) aerospace and (b) defence industry in each constituency as of 2 February 2024.

James Cartlidge: This information is not held in the format requested. However, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) does hold a regional breakdown of direct jobs supported in UK industry by MOD expenditure. In Financial Year (FY) 2021-22 MOD expenditure supported an estimated 209,000 direct and indirect jobs in UK industry. In that same period the breakdown of direct jobs supported by MOD expenditure in each region was: RegionFY2021-22UK Total 130,000 East Midlands6,900East of England6,200London8,200North East900North West16,600Northern Ireland600Scotland12,200South East29,100South West37,400Wales4,500West Midlands5,000Yorkshire and The Humber2,500 The MOD regional expenditure with UK industry and commerce and supported employment report for FY2021-22 can be found here: MOD regional expenditure with UK industry and commerce and supported employment 2021/22 (revised August 2023) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Early Warning Systems: Expenditure

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much his Department has spent on the Crowsnest Airborne Early Warning system.

James Cartlidge: As of 31 December 2023, the CROWSNEST Programme has spent £425.662 million. This is within the original approved whole life budget for the programme of £459 million.

LGBT Veterans Independent Review

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent progress he has made on implementing the recommendations of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, published on 19 July 2023.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The Government has accepted the recommendations of the LGBT Veterans Independent Review, including the financial award scheme. Defence continues to work at pace across Government to deliver the intent behind the report’s recommendations, and as of 1 February 2024, 26 of the 49 recommendations have already been made available. Defence encourages those affected to register their interest in applying for restorative measures by completing the application form available on the following page: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/lgbt-veterans-support-and-next-steps. Such registrations of interest will enable us to learn more about the affected community and thereby design the most suitable scheme possible. There is and has been extensive engagement with Fighting with Pride at official and Ministerial level. Defence will continue to engage with LGBT veterans as plans for the financial award progress and is committed to providing updates on the development of the scheme; eligibility criteria; and information on the application process at the above-mentioned page.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Afghanistan: Women

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure aid reaches (a) women and (b) girls in Afghanistan.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: UK aid continues to reach vulnerable women and girls despite the obstacles to delivering aid, including the Taliban's prohibitive policies and actions. Between 2022 and 2023, the UK has provided food aid to 2 million women and emergency humanitarian assistance to 2.3 million women.The UK Government continues to condemn the Taliban's attacks on the rights of women in Afghanistan. We remain committed that at least 50 per cent of people reached with UK aid in Afghanistan will be women and girls - a commitment we met in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 and are on track to meet for 2023-2024.

Afghanistan: Women

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent representations he has made to his Afghan counterpart on the treatment of women and girls in that country. .

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: Ministers do not engage with the Taliban. Officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers to reverse their harmful policies on women and girls. In January, FCDO officials raised the treatment of women and girls with Taliban acting ministers during a visit to Kabul.We have repeatedly condemned the Taliban's edicts that restrict the rights of women and girls, including through the UN Security Council, Human Rights Council resolutions and public statements. We will continue to work with the international community, including during UN led talks this month, to press the Taliban to reverse course.

Gaza: Israel

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the Israeli government's compliance with the provisional measures set forth by the International Court of Justice in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

Leo Docherty: We respect the role and independence of the ICJ. However, we have stated that we have considerable concerns about this case, which is not helpful in the goal of achieving a sustainable ceasefire. Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas in line with International Law, as we have said from the outset. Our view is that Israel's actions in Gaza cannot be described as a genocide, which is why we thought South Africa's decision to bring the case was wrong and provocative.The court's call for the immediate release of hostages and the need to get more aid into Gaza is a position we have long advocated.We are clear that an immediate pause is necessary to get aid in and hostages out, and then we want to build towards a sustainable, permanent ceasefire, without a return to the fighting.

Gaza: Humanitarian Situation

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing emergency humanitarian assistance to help avert famine in Gaza.

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office,  what steps his Department is taking to help ensure the continued supply of aid to Gaza.

Leo Docherty: There is a desperate need for increased humanitarian support to Gaza. The Foreign Secretary discussed the urgency of getting significantly more aid into Gaza to alleviate the desperate situation there with Prime Minister Netanyahu on 24 January. He reiterated the need for Israel to open more crossing points into Gaza, for Nitzana and Kerem Shalom to be open for longer, and for Israel to support the UN to distribute aid effectively across the whole of Gaza. An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out.Israel must take steps, working with other partners including the UN and Egypt, to significantly increase the flow of aid into Gaza including allowing prolonged humanitarian pauses, opening more routes into Gaza and restoring and sustaining water, fuel and electricity.We have trebled our aid commitment for this financial year and are working closely with partners in international agencies and in the region to increase access. We have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. The Foreign Secretary's Representative for Humanitarian Affairs in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Mark Bryson-Richardson, is based in the region and is working intensively to address the blockages preventing more aid reaching Gaza.

UNRWA: Finance

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of funding for the UN relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA) in the context of Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank.

Leo Docherty: The UK is appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. Further questions on the investigation are a matter for the UN.However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

UNRWA: Finance

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Oral Statement of the Minister of State of 29 January 2024, on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Official Report, columns 620-622, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the temporary pause in funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), announced on 27January 2024, on humanitarian conditions in Gaza.

Leo Docherty: The UK is appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stand. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

UNRWA: Finance

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of some countries pausing funding to the UN relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA) on the humanitarian response in Gaza.

Leo Docherty: The UK is appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. Further questions on the investigation are a matter for the UN.However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

UNRWA: Finance

Afzal Khan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of funding for the UN relief and works agency for palestine refugees in the near east (UNRWA) in the context of Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank.

Leo Docherty: The UK is appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. Further questions on the investigation are a matter for the UN.However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

Gaza: Hospitals

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his Israeli counterpart on the safety of (a) staff, (b) patients and (c) displaced people in hospitals in Gaza.

Leo Docherty: Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, in line with International Humanitarian Law (IHL). We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians. The Prime Minister has made this clear to Prime Minister Netanyahu and has been in close contact throughout. We are currently supporting NGO and UN partners to deliver medical aid and care in the Gaza Strip. This includes support for primary healthcare, trauma and emergency care services, disease surveillance and outbreak response, and deployment of Emergency Medical Teams.

Gaza: Children

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department is providing support for unaccompanied children in Gaza.

Leo Docherty: From our £60 million of committed aid, we have provided targeted support for children through our £5.75 million contribution to UNICEF. Our funding is supporting their work to amongst other things, assist over 5,800 children with severe malnourishment and 853,000 children, adolescents and caregivers affected by the conflict, to receive emergency and child protection services, including mental health and psychosocial support.The UK is a founding member and key donor to Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises. ECW is supporting education preparedness work in Gaza. We continue to support the wider delivery of education in Gaza, including through NGOs, UN partners, the World Bank, and the Global Partnership for Education.

Gaza: Israel

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2024 to Question 10673 on Gaza: Israel, whether his Department has logged alleged instances of breaches or violations of International Humanitarian Law by Israel in its military engagement in Gaza since October 2023.

Leo Docherty: As stated in answer to PQ 11448, we regularly review advice about Israel's capability and commitment to to International Humanitarian Law (IHL). We act in accordance with that advice.As the Foreign Secretary has said, Israel has the capability and commitment to act within IHL. We continue to call for IHL to be respected and civilians to be protected.

Gaza: Israel

Afzal Khan: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will make an assessment of the Israeli government's compliance with the provisional measures set forth by the International Court of Justice in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

Leo Docherty: The UK is appalled by allegations that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. The UK is pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. Further questions on the investigation are a matter for the UN.However, we remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza.

UNRWA: Staff

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Oral Statement of the Minister of State of 29 January 2024, on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Official Report, columns 620-622, what his planned timetable is for the completion of his Department's review of the Office of Internal Oversight Services' investigation into the employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Leo Docherty: As we have said, we are pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review the concerning allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point. We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it, including through other UN agencies.

UNRWA: Finance

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Oral Statement of the Minister of State of 29 January 2024, on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Official Report, columns 620-622, and with reference to the Government's pause in funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), announced on 27 January 2024, what assessment he has made of the capacity of (a) other UN agencies, (b) international NGOs and (c) UK NGOs to deliver aid previously delivered by UNRWA.

Leo Docherty: We remain committed to getting humanitarian aid to the people in Gaza who desperately need it. Our commitment to trebling aid to Gaza still stands. The UK is providing £60 million in humanitarian assistance to support partners including the British Red Cross, UNICEF, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS) to respond to critical food, fuel, water, health, shelter and security needs in Gaza. We will continue to support and have supported the United Nations World Food Programme to deliver a new humanitarian land corridor from Jordan into Gaza. 750 tonnes of life-saving food aid arrived in the first delivery and 315 tonnes in the second delivery. We have and will continue to support the Egyptian Red Crescent Society (ERCS). The ERCS has a long standing and trusted role as auxiliary to the Egyptian authorities in the humanitarian field. Egyptian Red Crescent is part of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies with whom FCDO has due diligence in place.

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what assessment he has made of the accuracy of reports that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has provided (a) support and (b) funding to (i) Hamas, (ii) Hezbollah and (iii) the Houthis in the last 12 months.

Leo Docherty: We continue to condemn Iran's political, financial, and military support to several militant and proscribed groups, including Hamas, Hizballah and the Houthis. Such activity compromises the region's security and further escalates tensions. The Foreign Secretary raised Iran's ongoing support to its destabilising proxies and partners directly with the Iranian Foreign Minister on 31 December and 17 January. The UK's new sanctions regime designed to target Iran and its proxies' hostile activity came into force on 14 December and was immediately used to sanction individuals and one entity linked to Iran's support to Hamas.

Afghanistan: Women

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps he is taking to help ensure the employment of women by (a) aid agencies and (b) NGOs in Afghanistan.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We are committed to ensuring the delivery of aid in Afghanistan, including the continued participation of female aid workers and the full access of women and girls to services. We regularly engage with humanitarian partners to understand the situation for female staff and how best to support their continued role in the response. We provide financial flexibility to partners to support costs, enabling female staff to continue working.We have repeatedly condemned the Taliban's decisions to restrict the rights of women and girls and are working with the international community to push for women and girls' rights in Afghanistan.

UNRWA: Finance

Claire Hanna: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, if he will resume the funding of UNRWA.

Leo Docherty: We are appalled by allegations that United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) staff were involved in the 7 October attack against Israel, a heinous act of terrorism that the UK Government has repeatedly condemned. We are pausing any future funding of UNRWA whilst we review these concerning allegations.As we have said, the pause will remain in place until we are able to review the allegations. Any future funding decisions will be taken after this point.

UNRWA: Finance

Beth Winter: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to the Oral Statement of the Minister of State of 29 January 2024, on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Official Report, columns 620-622, if he will publish the dates when (a) his Department and (b) other Government departments released funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in each of the last 10 years.

Leo Docherty: We have made disbursements to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) every year in the past ten. This includes core contributions through the multilateral budget and bilateral payments. We are not aware of other UK Government departments having made payments to UNRWA. Obtaining the detail for the requested timeframe could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

UK-Africa Investment Summit

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, with reference to his Department's press release entitled Postponement of the UK-African Investment Summit, published on 31 January 2024, on what date he took the decision to postpone that summit; for what reason that summit was postponed; and on what date the Envoy for the UK-African Investment Summit 2024 was informed of that decision.

Leo Docherty: The UK-African Investment Summit (UK-AIS), due to take place in April 2024, has been postponed to a later date owing to scheduling issues in the international calendar. New summit dates will be announced in due course.The UK-AIS Envoy was informed of the postponement of the Summit on 29 January shortly after the decision was taken, at which point he was already en route to Rwanda. During his visit, he informed the Rwandan government of the postponement and discussed our trade and investment partnership.

Israel: Palestinians

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has sought legal advice on the forcible removal of civilians from Occupied Palestinian Territories by Israel.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK's position is clear: Gaza is occupied Palestinian territory and will be part of the future Palestinian state. Settlements are illegal. No Palestinian should be threatened with forcible displacement or relocation. We regularly review advice about Israel's capability and commitment to International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and act in accordance with that advice. We continue to call for IHL to be respected and civilians to be protected.

Jerusalem: Ethnic Groups

Tommy Sheppard: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had recent discussions with his Israeli counterpart on the (a) recent physical assault on Hagop Djernazian and (b) safety of Armenians in the Old City of Jerusalem.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We have not held discussions with Israeli counterparts on the situation in the Cow Garden site of the Armenian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem. The UK is monitoring the situation and is clear on the need to avoid any further rise in tensions. British Consulate General staff in Jerusalem met members of the community on 19 January, discussed the current situation and visited the Cow's Garden site. The UK's position on the status of Jerusalem is clear and long-standing: it should be determined in a negotiated settlement between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and Jerusalem should ultimately be the shared capital of the Israeli and Palestinian states. The UK is a strong supporter of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) and an advocate for the integrity of cultural important areas to be respected. The UK continues to take a strong stance against settler violence and urges Israel to take stronger action to stop settler violence and hold the perpetrators accountable.

Yemen: Military Intervention

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has had discussions with his counterpart in Somaliland on the ongoing British intervention in Yemen.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK condemns in the strongest terms the illegal and unjustified attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi militants. The UK is working and engaging extensively with allies and partners to safeguard maritime security and navigational rights and freedoms in the Red Sea.

BBC World Service: Finance

Ms Lyn Brown: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether he has taken steps to fund the BBC World Service after 2025.

David Rutley: Funding for the BBC World Service after 2025 will be determined as part of the next Government Spending Review.For the FY2022-25 Spending Review, FCDO provided a flat-cash settlement of £283 million to the World Service via the World 2020/2025 programme. As part of the Integrated Review Refresh in 2023, the Government provided a further £20 million over 2 years to protect all 42 language services from closure. The Government recently launched a BBC funding review, which will report to Ministers in the Autumn.

Ukraine: Armed Conflict

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what recent discussions he has had with his (a) US counterpart and (b) the UK's international allies on (a) diplomatic, (b) humanitarian and (c) military support for Ukraine.

Leo Docherty: The UK plays a leading role in driving international support for Ukraine. We are in constant contact with our international partners to ensure that Ukraine receives the diplomatic, military and humanitarian support it needs. The Foreign Secretary held talks with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to reaffirm international cooperation and support for Ukraine during his visit to Washington on 6-7 December last year. The Foreign Secretary also set out the high level of UK ambition recently at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, as well as during December and January travel to Paris, Rome, Amman, Cairo and Istanbul.

Yemen: Food

David Mundell: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, what steps his Department is taking to help prevent unintended impacts from sanctions on food imports to Yemen by (a) the private sector and (b) humanitarian organisations.

David Rutley: The UK seeks to mitigate any unintended negative impacts of sanctions, including on humanitarian aid delivery. The UK's Yemen sanctions regulations include an exception which allows eligible humanitarian organisations, their service providers and delivery partners, to undertake activities necessary to ensure the timely delivery of humanitarian assistance, and to support other activities that support basic human needs.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Ministerial Boxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

David Rutley: The following table includes the number of reported lost or stolen ministerial red boxes from the FCDO between 2021 and 2023. 202120222023Lost000Stolen000The departmental security team records and investigates each reported loss from the FCDO. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.

Gaza: Charities

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, which properties of UK charities in Gaza have been hit by Israeli military strikes.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: We are aware of the air strike that hit the residential compound housing the  International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) Emergency Medical Team (EMT). Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, but it must comply with International Humanitarian Law (IHL); including the protection of hospitals, civilians, and medical staff. We want to see Israel take greater care to limit its operations to military targets and avoid harming civilians.

Home Office

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of people who attempted to enter the UK on small boats who were (a) intercepted by French authorities and (b) returned to France in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023.

Michael Tomlinson: The French authorities provide the Home Office with regular operational updates, including estimates of the number of people who have been prevented from crossing to the UK.Home Office records show that in 2022, around 33,000 crossing attempts (defined as an individual person attempting to cross the Channel by small boat) were prevented and returned to France. This compares with around 26,000 in 2023.The decline in numbers of crossings prevented in 2023 relative to 2022 reflects the 30% decline in overall attempts made in 2023 relative to 2022.

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people were detained after crossing the English Channel in boats involved in uncontrolled landings in 2023.

Michael Tomlinson: There were no uncontrolled landings in 2023.All people making these illegal, dangerous and unnecessary crossings of the Channel by small boat in 2023 were detected before reaching the UK and were placed under immigration control immediately upon arrival.

Undocumented Migrants: English Channel

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people arrived in the UK clandestinely (a) on larger vessels and (b) in a vehicle on a ferry in 2023.

Michael Tomlinson: The Home Office publishes statistics on detected irregular arrivals to the UK in the ‘Irregular migration to the UK statistics’ release on gov.uk.Data on people who have arrived in the UK on larger vessels and in a vehicle on a ferry are included in the ‘Recorded detections at UK ports’ figures on table Irr_01 of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK detailed datasets’, with the latest data up to the end of September 2023.The Home Office does not publish the requested data in any further breakdowns.

Refugees: Ukraine

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of  providing a minimum of 12 months notice to the first arrivals under the Ukrainian sponsorship schemes of plans for continued sponsorship on the current schemes' expiration.

Tom Pursglove: The UK Government is, of course, mindful that permission for the first arrivals under the Ukrainian schemes will start to expire from March 2025, and that Ukrainians in the UK, as well as their hosts and sponsors, are understandably seeking more certainty to help them continue to settle in the UK and live independently. We are keeping the Ukraine schemes, and the evolving situation in Ukraine itself, under constant review to assess the best approach, including ensuring that Ukrainians in the UK are informed about the sponsorship options available to them in good time.

Immigration

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether he has make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an overall cap on the number of migrants to the UK.

Tom Pursglove: The Government remains completely committed to reducing levels of legal migration. Our points-based immigration system allows us to control who comes to the UK to work, study and visit.In May 2023, we took decisive action to tackle the substantial rise in the number of students bringing dependants to the UK. These reforms have now been implemented.   On 4 December 2023, we announced a major package of measures to curb immigration abuse and further reduce net migration.This package of measures, taken together with the measures the Government announced in May 2023 to restrict the number of overseas students able to bring dependants, means that around 300,000 people who were eligible to come to the UK last year would not be able to do so in future.We keep all our immigration policies under review to ensure they best serve the UK and reflect the public’s priorities, including filling skills gaps and growing the economy.

Biometric Residence Permits: Standards

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many newly issued biometric residence permits have been returned due to clerical errors in their production in each of the last five years.

Tom Pursglove: The information is not available publicly and could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.

Windrush Compensation Scheme

Ms Diane Abbott: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people have received an award from the Windrush Compensation Scheme in each quarter since that Scheme was launched.

Tom Pursglove: An individual could have more than one claim under the Windrush Compensation Scheme Rules, for example as a primary claimant, close family member, or as a representative of an estate. In addition, a claim may receive a preliminary, interim and/or full and final payment.Data on the total number of people who have received a compensation payment is not published. Transparency Data shows how many claims have received a payment under the scheme.The latest published data, covering the period up to November 2023, is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2023. WCS_03 refers; Value of Windrush Compensation Scheme payments made.

Windrush Compensation Scheme: Appeals

Clive Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people whose application for an award under the Windrush Compensation Scheme has been denied have appealed in each quarter since that scheme was launched.

Tom Pursglove: Information on the number of Windrush Compensation Scheme claimants, who have requested a review of their full and final decision, is included in the Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data, which is published regularly. However, the publication does not distinguish between reviews requested on the basis of the claim being awarded a zero entitlement decision (denied), or where the claimant is not satisfied with the value offer received.The latest published data, covering the period up to December 2023, is available here: Windrush Compensation Scheme data: December 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).The relevant page is WCS_09, which contains details of the cumulative number of reviews requested at Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 2 reviews are completed by an Independent Adjudicator outside of the Home Office.

British National (Overseas): Pensions

Elliot Colburn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the documentation provided to British National Overseas passport holders to access mandatory provident fund monies.

Tom Pursglove: The UK firmly opposes the discrimination that British National (Overseas) status holders are facing in applying for early withdrawal of their pension funds held by the Mandatory Provident Fund in Hong Kong. The documentary requirements for accessing the scheme are a matter for the Hong Kong authorities. We have urged them to facilitate the early drawdown of funds as is the case for other Hong Kong residents who move overseas permanently and will continue to do so.

Biometric Residence Permits: Standards

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department takes to (a) mitigate delays in producing and (b) ensure the correct (i) names and (ii) bate of births are printed on newly issued biometric residence permits.

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department is taking steps to assess the potential impact of delays in the production of biometric residence permits on the people affected.

Tom Pursglove: Home Office colleagues are working closely together to improve our processes and ensure Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) are issued as quickly as possible.Caseworkers must ensure that the individual’s name, nationality and date of birth are correct and correspond to caseworking system records.We are improving address data accuracy and ensuring that updated address data flows into the main case working system more efficiently. This will maintain the integrity of the system so that the BRP card is issued to the correct address and help reduce delays in the system.BRP production is an automated function on our caseworking systems. However, delays can arise due to process errors. We have introduced a dedicated support function to work at speed to resolve user/process issues and to drive BRP process improvements across the end-to-end system.Where customers encounter a delay in the receipt of their BRP, we offer a range of services to allow customers to report the delay, and we aim to resolve the problem within five working days of notification. Employers and landlords can use the Employer Checking Service and the Landlord Checking Service to verify a right to work or rent in the absence of a BRP, while Government departments and public bodies can verify status in the absence of a BRP through the Status Verification and Enquiries Checking (SVEC) team.

Visas: Families

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will issue guidance on exemptions to meeting the minimum income requirement threshold for family visas.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason his Department has changed the timescale for the introduction of the new salary threshold for legal migration.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of proposed increases in the minimum income threshold for family visas on people in each region.

Tom Pursglove: On 4 December 2023 the Home Secretary announced his intention to raise the MIR to £38,700, aligned to the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold is set. On 21 December 2023 we set out further details on how we would implement this through a staged implementation.On 30 January 2024, we confirmed the Immigration Rules we intend to lay on 14 March will set out that from 11 April we will raise the threshold to £29,000 - that is the 25th percentile of earnings for jobs which are eligible for Skilled Worker visas.We will incrementally increase the threshold to the 40th percentile (currently £34,500), and finally to the 50th percentile (currently £38,700, and the level at which the General Skilled Worker threshold (GSWT) is set) by early 2025.It is important that the changes are delivered in a sensible and pragmatic way that gives families time to adapt, but ensures they deliver the reduction in numbers the British people expect.Whilst the level of the minimum income requirement (MIR) is being raised, other aspects of the MIR will remain unchanged including exceptions.For example, where the applicant’s partner is in receipt of specified benefits or allowances in the UK, such as Disability Living Allowance, the applicant will be able to meet the financial requirement by providing evidence of “adequate maintenance”, rather than meeting an income threshold.The family Immigration Rules also contain provisions to allow for a person to be granted a Family visa even where they do not meet the MIR, where they show that their case raises exceptional circumstances, and a refusal of family leave would lead to unjustifiably harsh consequences for them or their family.The published guidance on the current MIR is contained in the link below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/chapter-8-appendix-fm-family-members.Analytical work has been undertaken across Government to support decision making in this process, and an Impact Assessment will be developed in due course.

Abortion: Demonstrations

Andrew Lewer: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help ensure that the guidance on the implementation of Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 is applied consistently in relation to activities permitted within safe access zones.

Chris Philp: Section 9 of the Public Order Act 2023 sets out that it is an offence for anyone within a Safe Access Zone to intentionally or recklessly influence any person’s decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services; obstruct or impede any person accessing, providing, or facilitating the provision of abortion services at an abortion clinic; or cause harassment, alarm or distress to any person in connection with a decision to access, provide or facilitate the provision of abortion services.The Government has recently consulted publicly on the guidance, which is designed to ensure that abortion service providers and everyone within Safe Access Zones are clear as to what is expected under the new law and that law enforcement agencies have a clear and consistent understanding around the enforcement of Safe Access Zones. We are currently analysing all responses to the consultation and will publish revised guidance in due course.

Personal Care Services: Organised Crime and Undocumented Migrants

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to help tackle the use of barber shops as fronts for (a) organised crime and (b) illegal immigration.

Chris Philp: The Government is committed to tackling the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) and immigration related criminality. It has recently published a new SOC strategy that commits to reducing SOC in the UK by disrupting and dismantling organised crime groups and networks operating in and against the UK.The National Crime Agency (NCA), Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) network, Border Force and law enforcement partners have specialised intelligence and investigative teams that are deployed across the full range of SOC threats, including illicit finance, fraud, money laundering, and immigration crime, to bring offenders to justice.National, regional and local operational activity is always prioritised by law enforcement according to the threat, risk and harm posed.This Government has increased NCA funding by more than 40% since 2019 to support the development of essential capabilities needed to tackle the full range of SOC threats.

Dangerous Driving

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) driving through red lights. and (b) other forms of dangerous driving.

Chris Philp: The Government believes that any form of anti-social, dangerous or inconsiderate driving behaviour is a serious road safety issue.Enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced.The Government will continue to support the police to ensure they have the tools needed to enforce road traffic legislation, including in relation to the offence of driving through red lights and other forms of dangerous driving.

Police: Domestic Abuse

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of compliance with the recommendations contained in Police perpetrated domestic abuse: Report on the Centre for Women’s Justice super complaint, updated 23 November 2022.

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of appointing an external force to investigate police domestic abuse cases.

Laura Farris: We were grateful to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), and the College of Policing for carrying out an investigation into a supercomplaint on police-perpetrated domestic abuse in 2022. Responses to the recommendations from relevant organisations, including the Home Office, were published on gov.uk and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/responses-to-police-perpetrated-domestic-abuse-report-on-the-cwj-super-complaint.We expect forces to take allegations of police-perpetrated domestic abuse very seriously, and to take steps to ensure that investigations are carried out impartially. By law, allegations of serious assaults, serious sexual offences or abuse of position by police officers must be referred to the IOPC to determine the appropriate mode of investigation, which can include an independent investigation.

Cross border Cooperation: Belgium

Stephen Kinnock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the press release entitled PM meeting with the Prime Minister of Belgium, published by the Prime Minister's office on 23 January 2024, when he expects to finalise the UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement; and if he will publish that agreement as soon as it is finalised.

Tom Pursglove: Negotiations on the draft UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement are nearing completion. Once finalised and signed by both parties, the agreement will be published as a Command Paper and laid before Parliament with an Explanatory Memorandum in accordance with normal parliamentary procedures.

Windrush Compensation Scheme

Claudia Webbe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many individuals have requested the total sum of their Windrush compensation award be reviewed for each quarter since April 2019.

Tom Pursglove: Information relating to how many individuals have requested the total sum for their Windrush Compensation award offer to be reviewed is included in the Windrush Compensation Scheme Transparency Data, which is published regularly.As set out in the Windrush Compensation Scheme Casework Guidance published online, claimants can request a review of the decision to refuse all or part of their claim. Detailed data is not published on which specific category a claimant requests to be reviewed.The latest published data, covering the period up to November 2023, is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/windrush-compensation-scheme-data-november-2023.The relevant data can be found on page WCS_09.

Visas: Fees and Charges

John McNally: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing reduced fee tiers of visa payments for individuals with contributory ties with the UK.

Tom Pursglove: There are currently no plans to introduce fee tiers. It is the Home Office’s policy that fees should generally be charged consistently across customer groups in order to support the overall funding of the migration and borders system.

Department of Health and Social Care

Care Homes: Kent

Rosie Duffield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adult social care residential care home places there were in (a) Kent and (b) Canterbury in each year since 2015.

Helen Whately: The Care Quality Commission (CQC) publish the CQC Care Directory annually, which lists the number of care home registrations in the adult social care sector. This includes the number of care home beds, with or without nursing. The following table shows the number of CQC registered care home beds for Kent, on 1 January of each year from 2015 onwards:YearRegistered Care Home Beds201515,198201615,131201714,406201814,590201914,431202014,610202114,586202214,598202314,543202414,638 The following table shows the number of care home beds for Canterbury, on 1 January of each year from 2015 onwards:YearRegistered Care Home Beds201594320169802017973201898120191,02020201,02520211,0072022984202397620241,087Note: This data is also from the CQC Care Directory but cross-referenced with postcode data to identify care home beds in Canterbury with or without nursing.

Breast Cancer: Research

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much his Department has spent on (a) improving understanding of and (b) finding a cure for Lobular cancer as of 31 January 2024.

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what research the Government is funding on tackling lobular breast cancer.

Andrew Stephenson: The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), with NIHR expenditure for all cancers being £121.8 million in 2022/23.Current NIHR research into breast cancer includes a £1.3 million project to determine whether an abbreviated form of breast magnetic resonance imaging can detect breast cancers missed by screening through mammography, such as lobular breast cancer. The NIHR also supports research on lobular breast cancer through its research infrastructure, including Biomedical Research Centres which are undertaking research on early detection and genetic aspects of breast cancer. It is difficult to attribute research infrastructure funding allocations to specific disease and therapy areas as the staff and facilities funded through the NIHR infrastructure supports research across disciplines.Additionally, the NIHR supports breast cancer research funded by research partners in the charity and public sectors through the NIHR’s Clinical Research Network (CRN). Over the last five years the CRN has supported delivery of 10 lobular breast cancer-related studies.Research on the underpinning science to understand the mechanisms of cancer, including lobular breast cancer, is funded through the UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) Medical Research Council who spend £125 million annually on cancer research. The NIHR also works closely with research funding partners including Cancer Research UK, Breast Cancer Now, Medical Research Council, and other cancer charities.

Prescription Drugs: Fees and Charges

Anna Firth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether prescriptions obtained from a pharmacy are charged as a private patients.

Andrea Leadsom: In England the National Health Service has not commissioned a national prescribing service from community pharmacy, and therefore community pharmacists cannot prescribe NHS medicines. Some pharmacies do offer a private prescribing service, for which they charge patients.Where community pharmacies supply medicines as part of an NHS service, for example the new Pharmacy First service, the medicines are supplied on the NHS and the normal prescription charges rules apply.NHS England is working with integrated care boards, who are currently recruiting over 200 community pharmacy pathfinder sites to establish how independent prescribing can be incorporated into clinical services available to the public through community pharmacy in the longer-term.

Electronic Cigarettes

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the research from University College London entitled Who would be affected by a ban on disposable vapes? A population study in Great Britain, published on 24 January 2024.

Andrea Leadsom: The health advice on vaping is clear: vaping can play a role in helping adult smokers to quit, but if you don’t smoke, don’t vape, and children should never vape. However, youth vaping has tripled in the last three years and one in five children have now used a vape. We know that disposable vapes have played a significant role in this rise, with 69% of children aged between 11 and 17 years old who vape now using disposables, compared to just 7% in 2021.Adults will still have access to non-disposable vapes to help them to quit smoking. We have also announced significant new funding to support current smokers in quitting by doubling the funding of local stop smoking services to nearly £140 million per year, and through our national Swap to Stop scheme we’re helping adult smokers to quit by providing one million vapes to local authorities.A full impact assessment is being undertaken by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs on the proposed ban on the sale and supply of disposable vapes.

Respiratory Diseases: Health Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to (a) increase the capacity of interstitial lung disease services and (b) reduce the time between diagnosis and access to treatment for that disease.

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with NHS England to support Integrated Care Boards to (a) prepare for full delegation of specialised services for interstitial lung disease from April 2024 and (b) improve patient outcomes for interstitial lung disease.

Andrew Stephenson: The Government is committed to improving the detection and diagnosis of all respiratory conditions. Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) are the primary intervention being pursued to increase diagnostic capacity quickly in the National Health Service. As of January 2024, 153 CDC sites are operational, and the programme has delivered over 5 million tests since July 2021.Furthermore, the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the steps the NHS and its partners need to take to deliver an NHS workforce that meets the changing needs of the population over the next 15 years. It will put the workforce on a sustainable footing for the long term. As of September 2023, there are currently over 3,400 full-time equivalent (FTE) doctors working in the specialty of respiratory medicine in NHS trusts and other core organisations in England. This is over 690, or 25.5%, more than in 2019 and over 1,600, or 95.7%, more than in 2010. This includes almost 1,400 FTE consultants, which is over 260, or 23.2%, more than in 2019 and over 730, or 111.7%, more than in 2010.On the delegation of specialised commissioning, NHS England approved plans in December to fully delegate the commissioning of 59 specialised services to integrated care boards (ICBs) in the East, Midlands and the North West regions of England from April 2024. NHS England has also approved plans to continue to jointly commission appropriate specialised services with ICBs in the South West, South East, London and the North East, and Yorkshire regions of England for a further year. This approach will help support a smooth transition of commissioning responsibility by April 2025. Moving to ICB-led commissioning will support a new focus on integration and population health management across whole pathways of care. This presents the opportunity to improve the quality of services, tackle health inequalities and deliver best value. Overall, the delivery of the Government’s plans on diagnostic centres, workforce, and the delegation of commissioning will help improve patient outcomes for respiratory diseases.

Dental Services

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many units of dental activity were (a) commissioned and (b) delivered in each integrated care board in (i) 2017, (ii) 2018 and (iii) 2019.

Andrea Leadsom: Data for units of dental activity commissioned and delivered in each integrated care board in 2017, 2018 and 2019 will be published shortly on the NHS Business Services Authority’s Open Data Portal.

Pests

Tulip Siddiq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help prevent the spread of bedbugs.

Maria Caulfield: The Department does not have responsibility for reducing the spread of bedbugs. Bedbugs are not an invasive species and are not known to spread diseases, although any individuals who think they have bedbugs should contact their local council or pest control service. Some further information on bedbugs is available at the following link:   https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/bedbugs/

Department of Health and Social Care: Correspondence

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 12 December 2023 to Question 5802 on Department of Health and Social Care: Correspondence, for what reason has a response not been provided within the statutory timeframe; and what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of the Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) report prepared by Coroner Andrew Cox on 23 November 2023.

Maria Caulfield: We apologise for the delay in replying to the coroner. The Department is preparing its response to this Regulation 28 report as a matter of urgency. It is within the Chief Coroner’s discretion to publish the report, together with the Department’s response.Prevention of Future Deaths reports are an important part of our broader system for learning from deaths, as they help to identify themes to inform improved guidance, regular learning, and the development of our policies more generally.The Department ensures that relevant regulators and other bodies are aware of the matters of concern brought to its attention, so that the system can respond as appropriate. We are working closely with NHS England and other partners in the health system to support healthcare professionals.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many claims on (a) MMR, (b) Covid-19 and (c) all other vaccinations have been made to the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme in each of the last three years; and how many of each are awaiting a decision as of 1 February 2024.

Maria Caulfield: In 2021 there were 27 claims related to measles, mumps or rubella (MMR) received by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), one of which is still awaiting a decision as of 1 February 2024. Additionally in 2021, 616 claims were received relating to COVID-19, with 42 still awaiting an outcome as of 1 February 2024. 43 claims were received for all other diseases covered by the Vaccine Damage Payment Act (VDPA) 1979, and in this category, seven applications were awaiting an outcome as of 1 February 2024.In 2022 there were 19 claims related to MMR received by the VDPS, one of which is still awaiting a decision as of 1 February 2024. Furthermore in 2022, 2723 claims were received relating to COVID-19 with 266 still awaiting an outcome as of 1 February 2024. 86 claims were received for all other diseases covered by the VDPA 1979, and of these, 12 applications were still awaiting an outcome as of 1 February 2024.In 2023 there were five claims related to MMR received by the VDPS, one of which is still awaiting a decision as of 1 February 2024. In this same year, 5383 claims were received relating to COVID-19 with 3519 still awaiting an outcome on 1 February 2024. 222 claims were received for all other diseases covered by the VDPA 1979, and of these, 139 applications were still awaiting an outcome as of 1 February 2024.

MMR Vaccine: Health Education

Taiwo Owatemi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that schools are providing adequate information to (a) students and (b) parents on the (i) merits and (ii) associated risks of measles vaccinations.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency provides a range of publications in various languages and formats to provide information about the national immunisation programme including the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination programme, for students and parents, which are available at the following link:https://www.healthpublications.gov.uk/Home.htmlThese publications and those on the National Health Service website allow students and parents to understand the merits and associated risks of the measles vaccination to allow for informed consent. More information is available at the following links:https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/measles/https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-vaccine/NHS England regional teams are working closely with wider system partners within the local health economy to increase the uptake of all NHS routine and seasonal vaccinations, including those delivered in schools.

Prisoners: Epilepsy

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people in prison have epilepsy.

Maria Caulfield: NHS England collects internal management data on this however the statistics are not considered robust enough to be published.

Mental Health Services: Staff

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has had recent discussions with local mental health trusts on the adequacy of their staffing levels.

Maria Caulfield: There have been no such specific discussions recently although it is possible that staffing levels may have been discussed with representatives of mental health trusts as part of wider discussions. Our aim is to grow the mental health workforce by an additional 27,000 staff by March 2024 and we have delivered over half of this by June 2023, with further significant growth expected this year, alongside the continued growth of mental health roles in primary care and the independent sector. The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan builds on existing national plans to meet the forecast growth in demand for the overall mental health and learning disability workforce of 4.4 per cent per year up to 2036/37 to improve access to services and quality of care.

Members: Correspondence

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Minister for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy plans to reply to the letter of the hon. Member for Shipley dated 3 November 2023.

Maria Caulfield: I replied to the hon. Member on 31 January 2024.

Baby Care Units

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the capacity of overnight accommodation for parents with babies on neonatal units.

Maria Caulfield: In March 2023, NHS England published its three-year delivery plan for maternity and neonatal services. This sets out how the National Health Service will make maternity and neonatal care more equitable, as well as safer, and more personalised. Parents are partners in their baby’s care in the neonatal unit, and all providers are expected to ensure that facilities will be available to support family-centred care including access to parent accommodation, which will encompass co-bedding where appropriate, for all families.

NHS: Digital Technology

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to page 329 of his Departmental Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23, how much and what proportion of the £432 million allocated for NHS technology programmes was used for (a) improvements for managing and sharing digital patient records between health care providers across the country, (b) transforming remote monitoring of patients and (c) raising digital maturity; what the outcomes of that expenditure was; and whether external suppliers were contracted for the purposes of delivering that work.

Andrew Stephenson: In 2022/23, the Frontline Digitisation programme provided £393 million of capital funding and £45.29 million of revenue funding directly to 159 National Health Service secondary care provider trusts. The figures referred to by the Department are a contribution to the overall Transformation Portfolio, which funds a wide array of work, including the deployment of the Electronic Patient Record Systems and Shared Care Records. The intended outcome of this expenditure is to support the implementation of digital capabilities and enable infrastructure to meet our core digitisation standards and improve digital maturity.As part of digitising adult social care, £2.3 million supported approximately 13,000 people with vital signs remote monitoring technology over 2022/23. The intended outcome of this expenditure is to reduce avoidable hospital admissions and improve quality of care. Funding allocations were agreed directly with integrated care boards and NHS trusts. However, external suppliers may have been contracted at a local level.

NHS: Postage Stamps

Neil O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much the NHS spent on postage in the latest 12 month period for which data is available.

Andrew Stephenson: Data on the total spend on postage by National Health Service trusts in England is not held centrally and will be held locally by individual trusts.

Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board: Finance

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2024 to Question 7731 on Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board: Dental Services, what the impact of IFRS16 was on the capital departmental expenditure limit (CDEL) for the NHS; and of that how much was (a) to compensate for impacts on primary care provision and (b) allocated to Milton Keynes and Bedfordshire Integrated Care Board.

Andrew Stephenson: The additional capital departmental expenditure limit (CDEL) allocation for IFRS 16 in the 2022/23 budget was £1.2 billion. Of that, £24 million was directly linked to NHS England’s budget line, which covers the elements of primary care estate leased by integrated care boards, a relatively small proportion of the overall primary care estate.All National Health Service organisations provided IFRS 16 estimates to determine the amount of additional CDEL required for IFRS 16, thus ensuring a fair allocation in accordance with HM Treasury’s guidance during the implementation of the new accounting standard. NHS England then provided allocations to integrated care boards, enabling them to fund primary care leases and corporate buildings. For the Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board, the IFRS 16 CDEL allocation was £785,000 in 2022/23.

NHS and Social Services: Coronavirus

Richard Foord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made a recent assessment of the impact of covid-19 infection rates among health and social care staff on the delivery of frontline health and social care services.

Andrew Stephenson: Sickness absence rates, including COVID-19 absence, among National Health Service staff are currently collected and published by NHS England. Data is published monthly in their COVID-19 data release and also weekly, for a subset of providers within the Urgent and Emergency Care Situation Reports for 2023/24. The monthly and weekly data sets, respectively, are available at the following links:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/covid-19-hospital-activity/https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/uec-sitrep/urgent-and-emergency-care-daily-situation-reports-2023-24/Similarly for adult social care settings, data on staff absences due to COVID-19 related reasons are collected by the Department and published monthly, and are available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/monthly-statistics-for-adult-social-care-englandHowever, whilst rates are collected and monitored both centrally and locally, there has been no specific recent assessment of the impact of COVID-19 infection rates among health and social care staff on the delivery of frontline health and social care services.

Charcot Marie Tooth Disease

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease in (a) Rother Valley constituency and (b) England.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what training healthcare professionals receive in (a) diagnosing and (b) supporting people with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of treatment for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

Andrew Stephenson: In January 2021, the Government published the UK Rare Diseases Framework providing a national vision for how to improve the lives of those living with rare diseases, such as Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. The framework lists the following four priorities, collaboratively developed with the rare disease community: helping patients get a final diagnosis faster; increasing awareness of rare diseases among healthcare professionals; better coordination of care; and improving access to specialist care, treatments and drugs.To support with training for and awareness of rare diseases, National Genomics Education has developed a range of resources, including GeNotes. GeNotes puts innovative educational resources on genomics and rare diseases at the fingertips of healthcare professionals and includes information on Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, which supports healthcare professionals to identify and manage this condition.

Mental Health Services: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on best practice on tackling veterans’ mental health issues.

Maria Caulfield: The Minister for Veterans' Affairs and the Office for Veterans' Affairs engage with the Five Eyes international partners to share best practices on research and policy delivery. This engagement covers a wide range of issues relating to veterans, including mental health. In addition, officials from the Nigerian Government visited the United Kingdom in January 2024 to learn from the UK’s offer to the veteran community, which included health service provision.Op COURAGE is a bespoke mental health service for veterans and is commissioned by NHS England. NHS England has engaged with partners in the United States and has undertaken global literature research to identify the best practices and use evidence-based learning to develop this service. In 2023, NHS England met with the Australian High Commission to share learnings from Op COURAGE to inform and promote the best practices for veterans’ mental health in Australia.There have been no additional discussions by the Department with international counterparts on the best practices for tackling veterans’ mental health issues.

Operating Theatres: Fire Prevention

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to reduce incidences of surgical (a) fires and (b) burns.

Maria Caulfield: In January 2023, the Centre for Perioperative Care, following consultation, published revised National Safety Standards for Invasive Procedures. These national standards specifically cover all invasive procedures and include a requirement for local fire safety policies to minimise the risk of surgical fires and to contain a management plan in the event of one occurring.Recording individual patient safety events is a voluntary process, except where reporting to NHS England fulfils duties for other statutory mandatory requirements, such as reporting notifiable incidents to the Care Quality Commission (CQC). NHS England share all data routinely with CQC. The data is also being made available to integrated care boards and regional teams, to facilitate their roles in safety oversight and provider improvement support.

Operating Theatres: Fires

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information her Department holds on the number of theatre-related fires that were reported in NHS hospitals in (a) 2020, (b) 2021, (c) 2022 and (d) 2023.

Maria Caulfield: We are informed that NHS England’s national patient safety team does not hold or collect information on the number of surgical fires which occur.Any unexpected or unintended incident which could have or did lead to harm to one or more patients can be recorded on the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service, to support local and national learning. This would include surgical fires or burns. The data is also being made available to integrated care boards and regional teams, to facilitate their roles in safety oversight and provide improvement support.The most serious surgical fires or burns are already subject to mandatory reporting. NHS England share all such data with the Care Quality Commission. Although recording onto LFPSE is a voluntary process, providers are encouraged to record all patient safety incidents, irrespective of the level of harm, to support local and national learning.

UK Health Security Agency: Finance

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 22 January 2024 to Question 9342 on UK Health Security Agency: Finance, if she will publish a breakdown of the source of the vaccines income.

Maria Caulfield: The vaccine income within the annual report and accounts for the UK Health Security Agency breaks down between devolved administrations, alongside a small amount of income from third parties.

Long Covid: Research

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department have taken to (a) improve and (b) expand research into (i) the causes of and (ii) potential treatment for long COVID.

Maria Caulfield: For long COVID, research and scientific evidence is pivotal in shaping our understanding of causes and effects for individuals and the population. Over £50 million has already been invested in long COVID research projects to improve our understanding of the diagnosis and underlying mechanisms of the disease and the effectiveness of both pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies and interventions, as well as to evaluate clinical care. The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including long COVID. The Medical Research Council also funds research into long COVID. It is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made based on the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality. In all disease areas, the amount of NIHR funding depends on the volume and quality of scientific activity.

Mental Health Services: Schools

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when she expects all schools in York to have a designated mental health team.

Maria Caulfield: 398 teams are operational as of Spring 2023, covering 6,800 schools and colleges, and 35% of pupils in schools and learners in Further Education. An additional 100 teams have also undertaken training in 2022/23. Locally, NHS England has managed to secure two further teams, one in York and one in North Yorkshire, as part of wave nine of the programme which commenced in January 2024. The role out in York is going well and baseline surveys have started for all schools. Schools in wave five of the programme are listed below:- York High;- Vale of York;- Clifton Green;- Poppleton Ousebank;- Westfield Primary;- Carr Junior School; and- Lake Side Primary.Schools in wave nine of the programme are listed below:- Joseph Rowntree;- Huntington Secondary;- Archbishop Holgate;- Robert Wilkinson Primary;- Stockton on the Forest Primary;- Haxby Road Primary;- Yearsley Grove Primary;- Park Grove Primary;- St Lawrences Primary; and- Osbaldwick Primary.

Mental Health Services: Children

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that parents with children with mental health challenges receive the support required.

Maria Caulfield: We would expect children and young people’s mental health services, in the care of children and young people with mental health challenges, to routinely involve parents, carers, and families as appropriate.In September 2020, we launched a campaign through the Every Mind Matters website to raise awareness of the guidance and tools available to parents and carers, to help in supporting children and young people’s mental wellbeing. Specific content directed at parents is available at the following link:https://www.mindedforfamilies.org.uk/Information for parents and carers of children in contact with children and young people’s mental health services is also available at the following link:https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/mental-health-support/supporting-a-child-or-young-person/

Coronavirus: Screening

Richard Foord: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to help ensure that health and social care staff continue to have access to free covid-19 testing.

Maria Caulfield: From 1 April 2023, the Government implemented changes to COVID-19 testing. These changes aligned COVID-19 more closely with the management of other respiratory infections. As part of this change, routine symptomatic testing of staff in high-risk settings ended. Staff testing has continued in a limited number of the most high-risk settings to protect particularly vulnerable people. This includes hospice staff with symptoms and some National Health Service staff with symptoms, working on inpatient wards with severely immunosuppressed patients. Information on testing in these settings is available at the following link:  https://www.gov.uk/guidance/covid-19-testing-during-periods-of-low-prevalence

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date the Oxford–AstraZeneca covid-19 vaccine Vaxzevria was withdrawn from general public administration in the UK; and for what reason.

Maria Caulfield: AstraZeneca completed its COVID-19 vaccine supply agreement with the Government in 2022. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 vaccine booster programme in September 2021, in line with advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, the vaccines deployed in the national programme have primarily been mRNA vaccines that were considered to provide a strong booster response.

Ministry of Justice

Abortion

Carla Lockhart: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he has had discussions with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on its guidance to healthcare professionals relating to the reporting of suspected illegal abortions.

Laura Farris: The Ministry of Justice is responsible for the criminal law relating to abortion. However, the overall policy on abortion is the responsibility of the Department for Health and Social Care. Therefore, the Secretary of State for Justice has not had discussions with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists on its guidance for healthcare staff on “Involvement of the police and external agencies following abortion, pregnancy loss and unexpected delivery”.

Offences against Children: Convictions and Prosecutions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of child cruelty offences in the latest period for which data is available.

Laura Farris: The Ministry of Justice publishes information on the number of prosecutions and convictions for a range of child cruelty offences, from the year ending June 2011 to the year ending June 2023, in the Outcomes by Offence data tool: June 2023.This can be accessed by navigating to the ‘Prosecutions and convictions’ tab and using the HO Offence Code filter to select the following offences:01103 – Cruelty to or neglect of children00407 – Causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person00411 - Causing or allowing child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm.The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 increased the maximum penalties for:Causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult to die from 14 years’ imprisonment to life imprisonment;Causing or allowing a child or vulnerable adult to suffer serious physical harm from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment; andCruelty to a person under 16 from 10 to 14 years’ imprisonment.A consequence of increasing the maximum penalty for causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable adult to life imprisonment is that offenders sentenced to 7 years or more for that offence will spend two thirds of their sentence, rather than half, in custody.Partly as a result of these measures, average custodial sentence length for child cruelty offences has increased by 79.9% since 2010.

Offenders: Mental Illness

Abena Oppong-Asare: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether he plans to amend the right of offenders sentenced to an Indefinite Hospital Order to apply for a review every 12 months; and whether he has made an assessment of the impact of those reviews on (a) victims and (b) families.

Gareth Bacon: Hospital Orders and the provisions around them are set out in the Mental Health Act 1983 and ensure regular access for patients to a review of their detention by an independent court which will determine whether the criteria for detention continue to be met.This Government is committed to ensuring that victims’ voices are heard. We are working with the judiciary to introduce an entitlement in the Victims’ Code for Victim Personal Statements in the Mental Health Tribunal, where an offender’s detention is being reviewed. This will give victims the opportunity to explain the impact of the crime on them, and we continue to assess the provision of support for victims engaging with criminal justice processes like the Mental Health Tribunal.

Prisoners' Release

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the end of custody supervised licence is in operation as of 30 January 2024.

Edward Argar: As announced in Parliament on 16 October, the End of Custody Supervised Licence is currently in operation. Its use is targeted, and we continue to monitor its use.

Prisons: Sick Leave

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many sick days absences were recorded by prison staff in (a) 2021, (b) 2022 and (c) 2023.

Edward Argar: The number of working days lost by HMPPS staff by group is published every quarter in Table 18 of the “HM Prison and Probation Service workforce statistics” publication. The main publication can be accessed via this link: www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-offender-management-service-workforce-statistics. The latest accompanying tables are here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6554ab3750475b000dc5b614/hmpps-workforce-statistics-tables-sep-2023.ods.HMPPS is focused on reducing its sickness absence rates through the support currently offered to staff and managers, including a comprehensive Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that provides the workforce with access to confidential support & counselling services. This is in addition to the organisation’s Occupational Health Service that supports staff & management with medical advice, and HMPPS’ multitude of staff networks that are part of HMPPS’ commitment to ensuring our staff feel supported in their roles.HMPPS are actively reviewing their approach to staff wellbeing to strengthen the wellbeing offer. Managers support employees who are unwell and are provided HR casework support to appropriately manage employee absence in line with established policies & procedures.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Hinkley Point C Power Station: Construction

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent discussions she has had with EDF on (a) the adequacy of its capital funding for the completion of the Hinkley Point C Nuclear Power Station and (b) China General Nuclear's payment contributions beyond their contractual cap.

Andrew Bowie: HPC is not a Government project. The financing of HPC is a matter for EDF and its shareholders and has not been the subject of discussion with the Secretary of State.

Refineries: Grangemouth

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if she will publish the studies or data available on the estimated increased emissions caused by increased shipping that would result from the closure of the Grangemouth Refinery.

Andrew Bowie: DESNZ officials are in regular contact with Petroineos and the Scottish Government regarding the future options for the site. The UK has overdelivered on every target to cut emissions so far and has cut emissions far faster than any other major economy since 1990. There has been no assessment of the emissions from shipping for the import of finished fuel products to Grangemouth refinery, or of the difference in emissions between importing finished oil products and crude oil.

Refineries: Grangemouth

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much North Sea oil has been refined at Grangemouth Refinery in each year since 2010.

Andrew Bowie: Data on refinery operations are a commercial matter for refinery operators and are not published or otherwise made publicly available by the Department. Data on national refinery intake are available in Table 3.10 of Energy Trends: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oil-and-oil-products-section-3-energy-trends

Warm Home Discount Scheme: Eligibility

Richard Foord: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she is taking steps to provide support for for households who no longer qualify for the Warm Homes Discount due to changing eligibility criteria.

Amanda Solloway: Following public consultation in the summer of 2021, the Government expanded and reformed the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales from 2022. We reformed the scheme to standardise the criteria, provide the majority of rebates automatically, and focus the support on households in fuel poverty. We recognise the cost-of-living challenges families are facing, which is why we are spending £104 billion supporting households with bills.

Wind Power: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what steps she is taking to encourage wind turbine manufacturing in Scotland.

Andrew Bowie: The Government has announced the £960 million Green Industries Growth Accelerator to support clean energy manufacturing capacity, including for offshore wind, helping unlock private investment and new jobs. The Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme is making grant funding of up to £160 million available to leverage private investment into port infrastructure to support floating offshore wind at scale. The Contract for Difference (CfD) Administrative Strike Price for fixed bottom and floating offshore wind projects in Allocation Round 6 has risen since the previous CfD round following extensive industry engagement and supports offshore wind across the country, including in Scotland.

Sizewell C Power Station: Construction

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether unanticipated cost increases for Sizewell C will fall on consumers under the proposed Regulated Asset Base financing model.

Andrew Bowie: The National Audit Office assessed that models such as RAB could have resulted in better value for money to consumers if they had been applied to Hinkley Point C. Our plans for implementing the RAB model for nuclear include multiple safeguards to protect consumers’ interests. These include robust due diligence according to HM Treasury Green Book guidance prior to any final investment decisions and implementing an incentives regime for projects to manage cost and schedule.

Sizewell C Power Station: Construction

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Further steps to prepare Sizewell C for construction, published on 22 January 2024, which existing budgets the £1.3 billion additional investment has been made available from.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Further steps to prepare Sizewell C for construction, published on 22 January 2024, if she will publish the business case for that additional funding.

Andrew Bowie: The investment of £1.3bn made available to the Sizewell C project last month is from the Department’s capital budgets agreed as part of the 2022 Spending Review. The continued development of the Sizewell C project is commercially sensitive and we cannot disclose the further information at this time. The Sizewell C project is continuously reviewed and assured through the Major Projects Review Group (MPRG), and the Department has committed to publishing a value for money assessment for the project at the point of any Final Investment Decision.

Electricity Generation: Carbon Emissions

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending community benefits to low-carbon electricity generation projects.

Kwasi Kwarteng: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending her Department's guidance on community benefit to include low-carbon electricity generation projects.

Andrew Bowie: At the Autumn statement, Government committed to review our approach to community benefits to ensure that we are being strategic in identifying key sectors where community benefits can support delivery of infrastructure. The result of this review will inform our assessment of the case for extending community benefits to include technologies such as electricity generation.

Natural Gas: Carbon Emissions

Selaine Saxby: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of bringing forward the ban on flaring to 2025.

Graham Stuart: I refer my Hon Friend to the answer I gave to the Hon Member for Bristol East (Kerry McCarthy) on 13 June 2023 to Question UIN 188490.

Sellafield

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the incident at Sellafield Nuclear site on 28 November 2023.

Andrew Bowie: The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 imposes duties on employers to protect employees and other persons against ionising radiation arising from working with radioactive substances and other sources of ionising radiation. These duties have been used to create safe working procedures at Sellafield which are regulated by the Office of Nuclear Regulation. The adequacy of these procedures are the subject of regular review by the Office for Nuclear Regulation. There has been no impact to the public or the environment as a result of this event. Safety is the overriding priority at Sellafield.

Energy Charter Treaty

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 1 February 2024 to Question 1418 on the Energy Charter Treaty, if she will set a deadline for the receipt of views from stakeholders on membership of the Energy Charter Treaty; and if she will make an assessment of the implications for her policies of the decision by other countries to withdraw from the charter.

Graham Stuart: The Government is considering the views of stakeholders in business, civil society, and Parliament and will inform Parliament of the outcome in due course.

Fuel Poverty: Stockport

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether she has made an estimate of the number of people living in fuel poverty in Stockport constituency.

Amanda Solloway: The latest statistics for the number of households in fuel poverty in parliamentary constituencies in England, can be found in the published sub-regional fuel poverty Official Statistics, in Table 4: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/fuel-poverty-statistics

Department for Transport

Railways: Standards

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with railway providers to help improve train timeliness.

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking with rail providers to help ensure railway timetables meet the requirements of football supporters on match days.

Huw Merriman: I have been clear that the current, sustained poor performance on the railway is unacceptable, and industry needs to make significant improvements to deliver the punctual, reliable services that passengers and taxpayers deserve.Through the Department’s National Rail Contracts, there is a direct link between punctuality and reliability and the fee operators receive to incentivise improved performance.My officials and I monitor the situation closely and hold industry to account – I review performance on a weekly basis and hold regular high-level meetings with both Network Rail and representatives from the train operators.

Merchant Shipping: Labour Turnover and Recruitment

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of trends in the level of seafarer (a) recruitment and (b) retention in the merchant shipping industry.

Guy Opperman: The Department for Transport does not hold data specifically on the number of seafarers recruited or the level of retention in the merchant shipping industry.

Roads: Accidents

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the annual (a) budget for reducing serious injury and death of the roads and (b) cost to the exchequer per casualty is.

Guy Opperman: There is no hypothecated budget for reducing serious injury and death, and spending to do so comes from a wide range of differing budgets. We do not calculate the cost to the exchequer of road casualties.

Aviation: Fuels

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will set out his Department's strategy on sustainable aviation fuel.

Anthony Browne: The UK government’s SAF programme has three key pillars. We are driving demand for SAF through a new mandate which will be introduced in 2025, requiring at least 10% of jet fuel to be from sustainable sources by 2030. We are kick starting a domestic SAF industry and have allocated over £135m for UK SAF production facilities through the Advanced Fuels Fund. We are working with industry and investors to build a long term UK SAF supply and have committed to design and implement a revenue certainty mechanism to support a UK SAF industry.

Railways: Freight

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of trends in the level of rail freight usage since 2014.

Huw Merriman: In 2014-15 the total freight moved was 22.2 billion net tonne km. This has decreased by 29% to 15.7 billion net tonne km in 2022-23. Much of the decline is due to the phasing out of coal for power stations. Coal traffic decreased by 93% from 6.5 billion net tonne km in 2014-15 to 0.5 billion net tonne km in 2022-23.If coal is excluded, the total amount of freight moved has decreased by 3% from 15.7 billion net tonne km in 2014-15 to 15.2 billion net tonne km in 2022-23. However, there is significant potential for growth and that is why the government has set a target of at least 75% growth in freight moved by rail by 2050.YearCoal  (billion net tonne kilometres)Total Freight Moved without Coal (billion net tonne kilometres)Total Freight Moved  (billion net tonne kilometres)2014-156.515.722.22015-162.315.417.72016-171.415.817.22017-181.215.716.92018-191.216.217.42019-200.416.216.62020-210.215.015.22021-220.316.616.92022-230.515.215.7 The government is committed to growing rail freight.Network Rail has committed to supporting growth of 7.5% in CP7 (2024-2029) and are working on plans to achieve this. That will form the first step on the way to the 2050 target.The Rail Minister hosts bi-monthly roundtable meetings with key rail freight stakeholders. Network Rail also continues to work closely with freight operators to improve performance, with increases seen recently in Network Rail’s Freight Delivery Metric.The Government encourages and incentivises modal shift from road to rail by allocating £20m per year to the Mode Shift Revenue Support scheme. In 2022/23, the scheme removed the need for around 900,000 HGV journeys, saving almost 40,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.The Government has also contributed over £12.5m to 33 "First of a Kind" R&D projects and £7m through the “Future of Freight” fund both to boost innovation and help decarbonise freight.

Railways: Northern Ireland

Paul Girvan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what his Department's timescale is for the delivery of a feasibility study on the electrification of sections of the Northern Ireland railway.

Huw Merriman: Transport is a ‘transferred matter’ i.e. devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive and thus the responsibility of the Executive. However, as outlined by the Secretary of State for Transport in his written ministerial statement of 7 December 2023, the UK Government is funding a feasibility study on the electrification of the railway line from Belfast to the border with the Republic of Ireland. The study is being conducted by Translink on behalf of the Department for Infrastructure, with a projected completion date of spring 2025.

Avanti West Coast: Rolling Stock

Jack Brereton: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what information his Department holds on (a) whether any issues were identified during the testing of new Hitachi AT300 rolling stock to replace Voyager on Avanti West Coast services, (b) whether an assessment has been made of the potential effect of the lack of tilt mechanism for those trains on (i) maintaining safe operation around bends at speed, (ii) journey times and (iii) rail timetables and (c) for what reason the tender for the rolling stock replacement for Voyager on Avanti West Coast services did not specify the inclusion of a tilt mechanism.

Huw Merriman: The procurement, safety risk assessment, and safe operation of the Hitachi AT300 rolling stock is the responsibility of the operator. When running rolling stock procurements, operators take account of factors such as what products are available to the market, reliability, operating cost, passenger capacity, comfort and environmental performance. Network Rail is currently upgrading infrastructure on parts of the West Coast Main Line to allow higher speed running with non-tilting trains. The Office of Rail and Road is responsible for ensuring the new trains meet rail safety regulatory requirements before they can operate on the mainline.The Department is looking forward to the introduction of Avanti West Coast's brand new Hitachi rolling stock later this year which will replace its current diesel fleet in line with the Department's goal to run a more sustainable railway, resulting in a 61 per cent cut in carbon emissions, as well as offering more space and a quieter journey for passengers.

Railways: Repairs and Maintenance

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much and what proportion of his Department's budget has been allocated for track renewals in England and Wales in the next five years.

Huw Merriman: Track renewals are funded by Network Rail from the £44.1 billion provided by the Government to fund Network Rail’s operations, maintenance and renewal activity in Control Period 7 (the period from April 2024 to March 2029). Network Rail plans expenditure of roughly £3.5 billion on track renewals in England and Wales in Control Period 7.

Railways: Suffolk

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects work on the upgrade to Ely Junction to (a) begin and (b) be completed.

Huw Merriman: The recently announced Network North programme of investment included confirmation of government’s support for the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) programme and the substantial benefits this will bring, including a doubling of passenger services on the Ely to Kings Lynn and Ipswich to Peterborough routes together with additional freight paths into the Port of Felixstowe.Network Rail have developed the scheme to Outline Business Case stage; next steps will involve further investment case development and delivery planning.

Railways: Electrification

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an estimate of the length of rail tracks in miles that will be electrified in 2024.

Huw Merriman: The estimated number of electrified Single Track Miles (STM) that will be added to the network in England and Wales during 2024 is approximately 66 STM. This includes 20 STM as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade and 46 STM on the Midlands Main Line between Kettering and Wigston. This will be reflected in the Office for Road and Rail’s Rail Infrastructure and Assets data report as per the financial year that each project is completed. From 2010/11 to 2022/23, around 1265 miles of track were electrified in Great Britain.

Railways: Staff

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will hold discussions with train operating companies on trends in the number of people working in the rail industry.

Huw Merriman: The Department regularly engages with the rail industry on a range of issues, including around the workforce. The Government is committed to supporting the industry in reforming outdated working practices and improving the operational and financial sustainability of the sector.

Cross Country Trains: Overcrowding

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent discussions his Department has had with CrossCountry Trains on overcrowding on its services.

Huw Merriman: Officials meet CrossCountry regularly to discuss contractual matters - including their plans for acquiring and deploying additional trains – as part of the National Rail Contract. CrossCountry is working with industry partners to acquire cascaded trains and also whether it would be possible to operate a small number of such trains in 2024 to provide additional capacity, subject to their availability, and an appropriate business case.

Fishing Vessels: Safety

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much the Maritime and Coastguard Agency spent on (a) flights, (b) legal action and (c) staff in relation to the monitoring of fishing vessels for compliance with regulations on the wearing of personal flotation devices in 2023.

Guy Opperman: In 2023, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) incurred £31,104 in legal costs associated with issuing notices relating to breaches of the Merchant Shipping and Fishing Vessels (Personal Protective Equipment) Regulation 1999. This is in addition to estimated staff costs in the range of £5,000 to £10,000. Flights support all areas of MCA operations, including search and rescue, counter-pollution, and law enforcement/assurance. As such, it is not possible to provide a specific cost breakdown for flight operations.

Active Travel England

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department has provided to Active Travel England in each of the last three years; and what assessment he has made of the impact of their projects on traffic congestion.

Guy Opperman: Active Travel England (ATE) was formally established in August 2022 and therefore has only received funding since this date. In its first full financial year of operation (2023/24) the Department provided ATE with a total of just over £112 million, made up of £54 million of capital and £58 million of revenue funding. The details of this are set out in ATE’s Corporate Plan for 2023-2025, which is available on gov.uk. ATE also works closely with local authorities to help them deliver active travel schemes funded by other wider funding streams, such as the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements. All funding is subject to monitoring and evaluation, and the outputs and outcomes of funded programmes will be reported in future years.

Driving under Influence: South West

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of driving under the influence of (a) drugs and (b) alcohol offences in (i) the South West and (ii) Bournemouth.

Guy Opperman: The Department approaches drink and drug driving enforcement from a national perspective.We have tough penalties in place, with our highly respected and effective ‘THINK!’ campaigns reminding people of the serious consequences driving under the influence of drink can have on themselves and others. Enforcement of road traffic law and how available resources are deployed is the responsibility of individual Chief Officers and Police and Crime Commissioners, taking into account the specific local problems and demands with which they are faced

Roads: Bournemouth

Mr Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding his Department is providing for road resurfacing in Bournemouth.

Guy Opperman: During the current financial year the Department is providing Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council with £6,240,800 of capital funding for highway maintenance. This represents a funding increase of around 30% compared to the amount it was receiving in 2022/23.

Roads: Accidents

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has made an assessment of the lessons that his Department could learn from (a) Oslo and (b) Helsinki on reducing road deaths to zero.

Guy Opperman: Whilst we look closely at a wide range of international examples, we have not made a specific assessment of Oslo or Helsinki.The Department for Transport takes road safety for all road users seriously. Road fatality figures for Great Britain have been among the lowest in the world for many years. In 2022, Great Britain ranked fifth out of 38 countries with available data for lowest number of road fatalities per million population.

Department for Work and Pensions

Household Support Fund

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the impact of the Household Support Fund on vulnerable households.

Jo Churchill: Over £2 billion has been allocated to date to Local Authorities in England via the Household Support Fund to help those most in need.Management Information (MI) was published for HSF1-3 following the completion of each scheme. Vulnerable households have received more than 26 million awards between October 2021 and April 2023.We will look to publish MI for HSF4 following scheme completion and subject to quality assurance.The published MI for HSF1-3 can be found here:Household Support Fund 3 management information:1 October 2022 to 31 March 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab) Household Support Fund 2 management information: 1 April to 30 September 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)Household Support Fund management information: 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Pensions

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of index linking pension payments of failed pension schemes under the (a) Financial Assistance Scheme and (b) Pension Protection Fund.

Paul Maynard: While all pensions legislation is kept under review as a matter of course, there are currently no plans to amend (a) the Financial Assistance Scheme rules on indexation or (b) the Pension Protection Fund rules on indexation. These are complex matters and require careful consideration before any changes are made.

ASW: Workplace Pensions

Hywel Williams: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the real-terms change as a result of inflation in the value of pension payments that were not index linked for Allied Steel and Wire pensioners under the FAS since 2007.

Paul Maynard: The information required to carry out such an assessment is not readily available and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs. The Department has therefore made no such assessment and does not intend to do so, at this time.

Chemicals: Regulation

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment has he made of the adequacy of the UK’s chemical safety regulations.

Paul Maynard: The UK’s chemical regulations play an important role in protecting human safety and health as well as the environment and wildlife. The Government ensured that an operable regime for chemicals was put in place at the time the UK left the EU. Following EU exit, the government continues to assess how best to provide ongoing protection in an effective, proportionate and targeted way, taking into account the full range of regulatory options. Several government departments have responsibilities within the UK chemicals regulatory framework.  The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is considering opportunities for legislative reform within their areas of legislative remit.

Chemicals: Regulation

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 30 November 2023 to Question 3556 on Chemicals: Regulation, for what reason no new additions to the UK’s Substance of Very High Concern waitlist are expected before 2025.

Paul Maynard: The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) work under the agreed 2023-24 UK REACH Work Programme has not identified any substances that are suitable candidates for authorisation under UK REACH, which would need to be included in the Candidate List as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC). HSE’s work includes both technical assessments of substances candidate-listed in the EU and regulatory management options analyses (RMOAs), which are reviewed in the context of the interim principles for the inclusion of SVHCs on the candidate list (Approach to including substances of very high concern on the UK REACH candidate list – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). If suitable substances are identified to go onto the Candidate List from this work, they will be taken forward. RMOAs may, however, also identify that other regulatory approaches are more appropriate than REACH authorisation.

Treasury

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps his Department is taking to protect vulnerable tax credit claimants who have accrued overpayment debt through no fault of their own.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government takes a considered and balanced approach to the recovery of benefit debt and HMRC has strong processes in place to support those that may be struggling to pay back tax credits overpayments with manageable recovery plans. HMRC calculates tax credit awards across the financial year to ensure customers receive regular and consistent financial support. Customers are required to tell us of any change in circumstances and when they do, awards are recalculated and balanced across the remainder of the period. Customers are made aware of any overpayment that is generated as a result and the process to challenge the overpayment if they do not agree it is correct. HMRC has a well-established approach to help tax credit customers who are having difficulty repaying a debt and require extra support, including offering its customers debt advice referral to the Money and Pensions Service Money Adviser Network for a free bespoke independent debt service. HMRC will work with customers and can agree a temporary reduction in the rate of repayment based on their financial circumstances. In some cases, recovery of the debt can be paused. When customers and their tax credit debt move to Universal Credit, they can continue to access support through DWP.

Welfare Tax Credits: Overpayments

Wendy Chamberlain: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent estimate he has made of the overpayment of tax credits in the (a) 2022-23 and (b) 2023-24 financial years.

Nigel Huddleston: Estimates for the overpayments of tax credits in financial years 2022-23 and 2023-24 are not available. The latest statistics on the overpayments of tax credits on a financial year basis are for 2021-22 and are published here: Child and Working Tax Credits statistics: supplement on payments - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Statistics for 2022-23 are due to be published by HMRC in September 2024.

Personal Care Services: VAT

Claire Hanna: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reducing VAT to 10% in the hair and beauty sector.

Nigel Huddleston: VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services, including in the hair and beauty sector. Exceptions to the standard rate have always been limited by both legal and fiscal considerations. The government recognises that accounting for VAT can be a burden on small businesses, particularly in sectors such as hair and beauty which involve selling directly to the final consumer. This is why, at £85,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU Member State and the second highest in the OECD. This keeps the majority of UK businesses out of VAT altogether.

Wealth: Women

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an estimate of the number of women that will meet the new (a) income and (b) net asset financial promotion exemption thresholds for defining high-net-worth (i) individuals and (ii) sophisticated investors.

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department completed an equality impact assessment on its proposals to change the (a) income and (b) net asset financial promotion exemption thresholds for defining high-net-worth (i) individuals and (ii) sophisticated investors.

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what representations his Department received from industry stakeholders on its proposals to change the (a) income and (b) net asset financial promotion exemption thresholds for defining high-net-worth (i) individuals and (ii) sophisticated investors.

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department made an assessment of the potential impact of its proposals to change the (a) income and (b) net asset financial promotion exemption thresholds for defining high-net-worth (i) individuals and (ii) sophisticated investors on trends in the level of regional economic development.

Bim Afolami: The changes to the financial promotion exemptions that came into force on 31 January 2024 were subject to a public consultation which closed in March 2022. Respondents to the consultation were broadly supportive of the changes being made. Impacts of the proposals were considered, and a de minimis impact assessment was published alongside the final reforms.However, the Government recognises the significant concerns that have been raised recently about these changes. I met last week with the angel investing sector and listened carefully to the representations made, and the Government is working closely with the sector to address the concerns raised.

Treasury: Ministerial Boxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to his Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

Gareth Davies: None.

Freezing of Assets: Russia

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the amount of interest that Russian designated persons have accrued on assets that have been frozen by the UK Government.

Bim Afolami: As published in the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI)’s 2022-2023 Annual Review, between February 2022 and October 2023, £22.7 billion in frozen funds were reported to OFSI, part of HM Treasury, in relation to the Russia sanctions regime. This figure is provided in aggregate so as not to disclose the value of any funds held by particular designated persons and is a cumulative total of assets reported. An asset freeze does not involve a change in ownership of the frozen funds or economic resources, nor are they transferred to HM Treasury. Any interest accrued on these assets is subject to the asset freeze, to be frozen immediately by the person in possession or control of them. There is no obligation for a relevant institution to inform OFSI when it credits an account with interest and therefore OFSI does not hold this information.

Debt Respite Scheme

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Insolvency Service's publication entitled, Commentary - Individual Insolvency Statistics October to December 2023, published on 30 January 2024, whether his Department is taking steps to help reduce the need for breathing space registrations under the Debt Respite Scheme.

Beth Winter: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Insolvency Service's publication entitled, Commentary - Individual Insolvency Statistics October to December 2023, published on 30 January 2024, if he will make an assessment of the reasons for the increase in breathing space registrations under the Debt Respite Scheme in 2023 as compared with 2022.

Bim Afolami: The Government launched the Breathing Space scheme on 4 May 2021. The aim of the scheme is to encourage earlier access to debt advice and enable people in problem debt to get their finances back on track. As of December 2022, over 200,000 people in problem debt have benefited from Breathing Space protections. The Government is committed to supporting individuals in problem debt. At the Autumn Statement, further support to protect struggling families with the cost of living was announced. This brings the total support for households over 2022/23 to 2024/25 to £104 billion – an average of £3,700 per household. In addition, the Government continues to maintain record levels of funding for the Money and Pensions Service to provide debt advice in England, bringing their debt advice budget to £92.7 million in 2024.

Department for Business and Trade

Royal Mail: Universal Service Obligation

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if she will meet representatives of Royal Mail to discuss adherence to the universal service obligation.

Kevin Hollinrake: Ministers and officials meet with Royal Mail regularly to discuss a range of issues in relation to its role as the universal postal service provider, including the overall provision of the universal service obligation. I recently met the CEO of Royal Mail’s parent company to raise concerns about Royal Mail’s performance and he recognised that the current level of service is not good enough and has said that improving quality of service is his top priority. I note that Royal Mail has recruited an additional 3,000 postmen and is continuing to actively recruit new postal staff. I will continue to raise the issue if service levels do not improve.

Horizon IT System: Compensation

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what budgetary provision her Department has allocated for payments of redress to victims of the Post Office Horizon scandal in each financial year in which payments are estimated to be made.

Kevin Hollinrake: The final cost of Horizon compensation will depend on the circumstances set out in individual claims. We are promising fair and equal treatment of postmasters, not a set amount of money. The amount we spend will depend on how many people come forward and the claims which are submitted. The Government has to date committed a maximum of just over £1bn to ensure postmasters are compensated fairly. That is not a forecast: it is an estimate of the maximum Government funding which could be needed for compensation, which we have made in response to our obligation to make subsidies transparent.

Horizon IT System: Convictions

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when she plans to bring forward legislative proposals for overturning the convictions of subpostmasters.

Kevin Hollinrake: We will introduce primary legislation within a few weeks to quash convictions arising from the Horizon scandal.

Harland and Wolff: Export Credit Guarantees

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when was ministerial approval granted to UK Export Finance to advance negotiations with Harland & Wolff in relation to a proposed £200 million guaranteed loan facility under the Export Development Guarantee Scheme.

Greg Hands: Ministerial agreement for UK Export Finance to advance negotiations with Harland & Wolff was granted on 22 December 2023

Taiwan: Investment

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's policy paper entitled UK and Taiwan Enhanced Trade Partnership arrangement, published on 14 November 2023, whether she plans to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty with Taiwan.

Greg Hands: The UK’s longstanding policy on Taiwan has not changed: the UK has no diplomatic relations with Taiwan but a strong, unofficial relationship based on dynamic commercial, educational and cultural ties.  The Department for Business and Trade is currently working on an Enhanced Trade Partnership with Taiwan; currently there are no plans to negotiate a bilateral investment treaty with Taiwan.

Horizon IT System

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has had recent discussions with the Post Office on replacing the Horizon system.

Kevin Hollinrake: DBT Ministers and officials engage regularly with Post Office Ltd on a range of strategically important issues, including the company’s IT platform.The Government is supportive of Post Office’s plans to replace Horizon with a modern, fit for purpose New Branch IT system. In December 2023, I announced the award of an additional £103m to support Post Office Limited to meet its IT costs in the 2023/34 and 2024/25 financial years.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Music: Hate Crime and Sexual Harassment

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Second Report of the Women and Equalities Committee of Session 2023-24 on Misogyny in music, what steps is her Department taking to tackle (a) misogyny and (b) sexual harassment in the music industry.

Julia Lopez: The Government welcomes the publication of the Women and Equalities Committee’s report on Misogyny in Music, and thanks the committee for their work. My department is carefully considering the recommendations made by the committee and will respond in full by the deadline provided.

Alcoholic Drinks: Advertising

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will take steps to place further restrictions on the advertisement of alcohol.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of placing further restrictions on advertising on the packaging of alcoholic drinks.

Julia Lopez: The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), which operates independently of government, is responsible for regulating advertising in the UK across traditional forms of media such as print, radio and TV, as well as online. It administers the Advertising Codes of Practice, which are drawn up by the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP).The Advertising Codes impose a wide range of restrictions to ensure that alcohol advertising is responsible and not targeted at children. These include that adverts must not link alcohol with social or sexual success, imply that it is indispensable or include elements that appeal particularly to people under 18. Online platforms have also introduced stringent measures to monitor alcohol ads and ensure safe advertising, such as age gating and age verification.The packaging of alcoholic drinks is overseen by the Portman Group, the social responsibility body and regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging and promotion in the UK, which operates its Codes of Practice to ensure that alcohol is marketed in a socially responsible way, only to those aged 18 and over, and in a way that does not appeal particularly to those who are vulnerable.The Government’s Online Advertising Programme aims to increase protections for children and young people under 18 from online exposure to advertisements for products and services that are illegal to be sold to them, and we will consult further in due course.

Gambling: Video Games

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the relationship between (a) the use of in-game loot boxes and (b) the likelihood of future gambling related harms amongst young people.

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, on what evidential basis the decision not to define loot boxes as gambling as part of the Gambling White Paper was made.

Ronnie Cowan: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to take steps to help prevent prevent a potential normalisation of gambling among young people via loot boxes in Apps and video games.

Julia Lopez: Following the Government response to the call for evidence on loot boxes in video games, the Government has welcomed new industry-led guidance that aims to address the concerns identified for all players, including young people.Measures to protect players should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes should be unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and all players should have access to, and be aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.The Government has agreed a 12-month implementation period for the new guidance on loot boxes and has asked the industry, coordinated by Ukie, to report back to DCMS on the extent to which it has been implemented.We will continue to keep our position on possible future legislative options under review, informed by academic scrutiny of the industry-led measures. We will provide a further update in due course, following the 12-month implementation period.Under the Gambling Act 2005, gambling is defined as playing a game of chance for a prize of money or money’s worth. The prizes that can be won via most loot boxes do not have a monetary value, cannot be cashed-out, and are of value only within the context of the game. They therefore do not meet that definition. As set out in the Government’s response to the call for evidence, there are also a number of disadvantages to changing the definition of gambling including the likelihood of capturing unintended activities, creating logistical difficulties in increasing the remit of the Gambling Commission, and undermining gambling taxation.

Gambling: Video Games

Sir Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment the Government has made of the adequacy of the UK Interactive Entertainment principles and guidance on loot boxes; and what steps she plans to take to help ensure compliance with that guidance.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department plans to take to help ensure that the gaming industry complies with voluntary or self-regulatory measures to prevent gambling harms.

Sir Iain Duncan Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether the she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to regulate loot boxes.

Julia Lopez: Following the Government response to the call for evidence on loot boxes in video games, the Government has welcomed new industry-led guidance that aims to address the concerns identified for all players, including young people.Measures to protect players should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes should be unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and all players should have access to, and be aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.The Government has agreed a 12-month implementation period for the new guidance on loot boxes and has asked the industry, coordinated by Ukie, to report back to DCMS on the extent to which it has been implemented.We will continue to keep our position on possible future legislative options under review, informed by academic scrutiny of the industry-led measures. We will provide a further update in due course, following the 12-month implementation period.

Music: Self-employed

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to ensure freelance workers in the music industry receive the same protections from discrimination as employees.

Julia Lopez: The Government recognises the essential contribution freelancers make to the creative industries, including music.Freelancers are already entitled to a number of legal rights at work, including protection against discrimination in the workplace, and the right to a safe working environment.Everyone, including freelance workers, should be able to work without fear of harassment, discrimination or violence. The Government recognises that allegations of bullying, harassment and discrimination have been made in creative sub-sectors, including from freelancers. As outlined in our Creative Industries Sector Vision, the Government welcomes industry's progress on promoting fair treatment and addressing bullying, harassment and discrimination across the creative industries. This includes the work led by Creative UK, and the formation of the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), established by the industry to address BHD and provide trusted support and advice, particularly tailored to meet the needs of freelancers.

Television Licences: Non-payment

Sir John Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people were prosecuted for TV licence evasion in England in 2023.

Julia Lopez: The requirement to hold, and pay for, a TV Licence is set out in the Communications Act 2003 and the Communications (Television Licensing) Regulations 2004. Under the Communications Act 2003, the BBC is responsible for the collection and enforcement of the TV licensing system.The Ministry of Justice currently publishes the number of prosecutions, convictions and sentencing outcomes for the non-payment of TV licence fees annually as part of their criminal justice statistics quarterly publications, which can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/criminal-justice-statistics-quarterly.

Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press Inquiry

George Eustice: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to prevent the Civil Procedure Rule Committee making rules of court that would implement the recommendations in paragraphs 73 and 74 of Part L of the Leveson Report.

Julia Lopez: The Government is not proposing to instruct the Civil Procedure Rule Committee to amend rules of court to support the commencement and implementation of section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. This aligns with its commitment to repeal section 40.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Ministerial Boxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

Julia Lopez: No ministerial red boxes belonging to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport were reported lost or stolen between 2021 and 2023.

Journalism: Self-employed

Pete Wishart: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the (a) long-term viability and (b) economic sustainability of freelance journalism.

Julia Lopez: Journalists, including freelancers, play an important role in holding power to account and keeping the public informed by providing reliable, high-quality information.As the independent Cairncross Review into the future of journalism identified, society is increasingly moving online and news publishers are facing significant challenges in transitioning to sustainable digital business models, particularly at local level - and this presents challenges both for publishers and the freelancers that they contract.The Government is taking action to support journalists. We set up the National Committee for the Safety of Journalists (NCSJ) in 2020, bringing together government, representatives bodies for journalists, police and prosecuting authorities as well as civil society groups to improve ways journalists, especially freelancers, can be supported and given the resources and training they need and set this our in the 2021 National Action Plan for the Safety of Journalists.We are also supporting the news publishers that employ or contract journalists. To date, this support has included the introduction of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumer Bill, which among many other things will help to rebalance the relationship between publishers and platforms; the delivery of a £2 million Future News Fund, designed to invest in new technological prototypes, start-ups and innovative business models to explore new ways of sustaining the industry in this changing landscape; the zero rating of VAT on e-newspapers; the extension of a 2017 business rates relief on local newspaper office space until 2025; We continue to consider all possible options in the interests of promoting and sustaining news journalism.

Women and Equalities

Equal Pay

Bill Esterson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to help reduce the gender pay gap.

Maria Caulfield: The gender pay gap has fallen by approximately a quarter in the last decade.It was a Conservative government that introduced gender pay gap reporting, building on the robust equal pay protections we already have in the Equality Act.To accelerate progress we have supported legislation to: enhance flexible working, extend redundancy protection for those on maternity leave, and introduce carers leave.

Surgical Mesh Implants: Compensation

Emma Hardy: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, If she will make an assessment of the potential impact on women's health of the Government's progress on implementing the recommendations of the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review entitled First Do No Harm, published on 8 July 2020.

Maria Caulfield: Patient safety and women’s health is a top priority for this Government.That’s why since the ‘First Do No Harm’ report we have:o Appointed England’s first Patient Safety Commissionero Setup specialist centres for women impacted by mesho Piloted ways doctors can declare their interestso And launched a national mandatory Medical Device Outcome Registry.Beyond this, we published the first Women’s Health Strategy for England, which set out our plans for improving how the health and care system listens to women.

Guide Dogs: Business Premises

Dr Neil Hudson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps the Government is taking to help tackle refusal of entry of guide dogs into business establishments.

Stuart Andrew: Under the Equality Act 2010, businesses and public bodies that provide goods and services to the public must not unlawfully discriminate against disabled people, including those with assistance dogs.The Act places a duty on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to improve access to premises, buildings and services. This could include allowing the use of assistance dogs so that disabled customers are not placed at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled customers.The Disability Action Plan published on 5th February 2024 includes an action to establish an assistance dogs and animals working group, which will consider issues including how to educate businesses on the rights of assistance dog owners and to help simplify reporting access refusals.

Menopause: Employment

Alistair Strathern: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help support women experiencing menopause at work.

Mims Davies: In March 2023, we appointed Helen Tomlinson as the Government’s first Menopause Employment Champion.We are working across Government and with employers to increase awareness and develop policies to support women experiencing the impact of menopause at work.We recently launched new guidance on the Help to Grow portal, empowering businesses to educate their organisation about menopause.

Women: Unemployment

Rachel Hopkins: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce economic inactivity among women between the ages of 45 and 64.

Mims Davies: DWP supports people up and down the country to start, stay and succeed in work.At Autumn Statement, we announced DWP’s Back to Work Plan alongside a suite of other measures to reduce economic inactivity. These included;· Doubling the number of places on the Universal Support employment programme, to provide support for 100,000 people per year when fully rolled out;· Formally launching WorkWell, which will bring together the NHS, local authorities and other partners, in collaboration with jobcentres, to provide light touch work and health support in approximately 15 pilot areas;· Building on the extension of the certification of the fit notes to a wider range of healthcare professions, exploring new ways of providing individuals receiving a fit note with timely access to work and health support; and· Establishing an expert group to support the development of the voluntary national baseline for Occupational Health provision.This is alongside pre-existing support such as the Midlife MOT which was rolled out in Jobcentres from January 2023 to encourage individuals to optimise re-skilling prospects and improve health and longer-term financial resilience. The Mid-life MOT acts as a vital prompt to engage more people in planning more actively for later life – both for work and retirement. It provides individuals in their 40s, 50s and 60s with signposting to information and guidance on wealth, work and wellbeing, providing a holistic assessment to ensure that individuals can plan for the later life that they want. We continue to work with organisations, and with employers, on how they can offer the Mid-life MOT.The DWP 50PLUS Champions network also provides dedicated support to Work Coaches to enable them to effectively direct suitable support to claimants who are aged 50 and over.

Department for Education

English Language and Mathematics: Qualifications

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish pass rates for level 2 functional skills qualifications in (a) English and (b) maths among people aged 19 and over; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by (i) previous qualifications in (A) English and (B) maths and (ii) socio-economic background.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish pass rates for level 1 functional skills qualifications in (a) English and (b) maths among people aged 19 and over; and if she will provide a breakdown of those figures by (i) previous qualifications in (A) English and (B) maths and (ii) socio-economic background.

Robert Halfon: Qualification achievement rates for individual functional skills qualifications are published in the Further education and skills statistics publication and are available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/further-education-and-skills/2022-23. The latest adult (19+) figures covering qualifications ending in the 2021/22 hybrid end year (the latter of the achievement, planned, actual, or reporting year) are available via the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/01301c62-9206-496a-5d02-08dc227985c9. The department does not hold further breakdowns of these figures by previous English or mathematics qualification held, or socio-economic background.

Education: Autism

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential implications for her policies on education for autistic children and young people of the recommendations of the report by Ambitious about Autism entitled Written off?, published in November 2022.

David Johnston: The department is aware of the recommendations outlined in Ambitious about Autism’s ‘Written Off?’ report and engages with Ambitious about Autism regularly, including testing the reforms set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan with them and other key autism stakeholders.The department’s ambition is for all children and young people with SEND to receive the right support to succeed in their education and as they move into adult life. They should achieve well in their early years, at school and in further education to find employment, to lead happy and fulfilled lives, and to experience choice and control.In the SEND and AP Improvement Plan, the department sets out a vision to improve mainstream education through setting standards for the early and accurate identification of need and for timely access to support to meet those needs. The standards will clarify the types of support that should be ordinarily available in mainstream settings and who is responsible for securing the support. This will give parents confidence and clarity on how their child’s needs will be met.

Academies

Ian Paisley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on whether multi-academy trusts must be an exempt charity, rather than a charity.

Damian Hinds: All academy trusts are exempt charities under paragraph 8 of Schedule 3 to the Charities Act 2011.

Department for Education: Ministerial Boxes

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

Damian Hinds: There is no record of any ministerial red boxes from the department having been either reported missing or stolen in the last three years.

Cabinet Office

Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how his Department plans to measure and monitor the impact of the Veterans Strategy and Action Plan.

Johnny Mercer: The Office for Veterans’ Affairs, alongside partners across and beyond government, continue to monitor the progress of delivery against commitments in the 2022-2024 Strategy Action Plan, and regularly publish updates on progress. The most recent update was provided in the Armed Forces Covenant and Veterans Annual Report laid in Parliament in December 2023. Additionally, the Veterans Advisory Board receives verbal updates on progress made to delivering the Strategy and Action Plan at regular intervals.

Civil Servants: Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what progress his Department has made on delivering the Great Place to Work employment programme.

Johnny Mercer: Recruiting veterans is one of the most effective business decisions that any employer can make. The Civil Service recognises this, and has in place a range of dedicated recruitment initiatives for veterans in order to make the most of their skills and capabilities, and provide the opportunity of a fulfilling career in public service.The Great Place to Work for Veterans programme is one of a number of veterans’ recruitment initiatives being delivered across the Civil Service.Over 1,000 veterans to date have secured a job in the Civil Service through the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative and a further 200 veterans have been recruited through the 'Going Forward Into Employment' initiative.The Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative enables veterans who meet the minimum criteria to progress to the next stage of the application process, which is usually an interview.

Veterans

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the effectiveness of welfare services for veterans.

Johnny Mercer: This Government is committed to ensuring that our welfare services for veterans are fit for the future. That is why in March last year, my right hon. friend the Minister for Defence People, and Families and I jointly commissioned an Independent Review of UK Government Welfare Services for Veterans, which I was pleased was published in full in July 2023. The Government's response, which was published in December 2023, accepts the principle and intended outcome of all of the review's recommendations.

Cabinet Office: Subject Access Requests

Luke Pollard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how long on average it takes his Department to respond to a subject access request; and what proportion of such requests are answered after 20 days.

Luke Pollard: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department takes to resolve complaints about unsatisfactory responses to subject access requests.

Alex Burghart: The Cabinet Office endeavours to respond to all Subject Access Requests (SARs) received within the Statutory timescales listed within the DPA2018 and UK GDPR legislation which is within one month. This commitment is reflected in our performance data for SARs responses: in the last fiscal year (2022-2023) we received 686 requests, of which 678 requests (over 98%) were responded to within the legal deadline of one calendar month. We extended the deadline for the remaining 8 requests due to their complexity and responded to these requests within the 3 month extension period. The Cabinet Office Data Protection Officer (DPO) is responsible for investigating any SAR complaints. The DPO’s investigation provides independent oversight to resolve complaints. In all of our responses to subject requestors, we proactively emphasise that there is a complaints process, and advise anyone who has concerns about how their personal data has been handled to contact the department's DPO directly. We also inform the subject requester of their legal right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the independent regulatory body, should further resolution be required. We, in the Cabinet Office, fully cooperate with any subsequent investigations by the ICO.

Prime Minister: Visits Abroad

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to your Department's publication entitled Rt Hon Liz Truss MP and Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP overseas travel, October to December 2022, updated 30 March 2023, what the cost was of the accommodation used by the Prime Minister on his visit to Indonesia between 13 and 17 November 2022.

Alex Burghart: The Government publishes details on gov.uk of the total cost of overseas Ministerial travel, including costs of travel, and on other costs (visas, accommodation, meals).But as has been the case under successive administrations, the Government does not publish granular detail on Ministers’ travel at home or abroad, nor details of those accompanying them.

Remote Working

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the number and proportion of advertised jobs that can be undertaken solely at home in each of the last 5 years.

John Glen: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon lady’s Parliamentary Question of 30th January is attached. UK Statistics Authority (pdf, 109.6KB)

Attorney General

Offences against Children: Convictions

Jim Shannon: To ask the Attorney General, how many convictions for paedophilia were referred to her Department under the unduly lenient sentence scheme in 2023.

Robert Courts: The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) receives requests to refer sentences under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme to the Court of Appeal and publishes annual reports on the outcomes of the requests which it refers.The annual report for 2023 has not yet been published. The latest annual report, for the year 2022, was published on 17 October 2023 (see Unduly lenient sentence annual case outcomes data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)).The AGO also releases weekly statistics of requests to refer sentences. Weekly statistics for 2023, including requests to refer sentences for offences involving paedophilia (such as indecent images of a child, rape of a child under 13, and sexual assault of a child under 13) can be found at Outcome of unduly lenient sentence referrals - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have been reported (a) lost and (b) stolen in each of the last three years.

Andrew Griffith: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology was established in February 2023 as a result of the Machinery of Government changes, so records only exist for one year. The following table includes the number of lost or stolen ministerial red boxes from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology for 2023.2023Lost0Stolen0 The departmental security unit records and investigates each reported loss from the Department. If appropriate, the police are invited to undertake further inquiries.

Animal Experiments: Public Opinion

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the survey on Public attitudes to animal research, last conducted for the Office for Life Sciences in 2018, when her Department plans to commission a further survey.

Andrew Griffith: The department does not currently have plans to run the Public Attitudes in Animal Research Survey. Policy teams are working with a variety of external and internal stakeholders to determine the future of the survey.

Innovate UK

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made a recent assessment of the adequacy of the application process for grants from Innovate UK; and if she will take steps to help ensure that small businesses are not disadvantaged in that application process.

Andrew Griffith: Innovate UK (IUK) offers extensive support services and funding opportunities for businesses of all sizes, including micro and SMEs. In 22/23 it supported 3,000 SMEs with grants, a 47% increase from 2020. IUK’s processes meet Cabinet Office Grant Standards, and are audited internally and externally to ensure they are fair and robust. IUK recently published a Declaration to Support Businesses to Grow and Scale setting out how it is refining its approach to supporting businesses. This included pledging to halve the average time to process grant applications.